#matildainoz

Matilda in OZ - Now headed to Perth and Adelaide 

Did you know that Fresh Flayva doesn’t just stand for flavours in food but also for flayva’s as in what’s cool, hip and happening around the Gold Coast – Brisbane and other parts of the world. The Fresh Flayva girls stepped into the entertainment world by viewing the Australian Day Performance of Matilda the musical at QPAC – Brisbane Cast.

Matilda the musical is inspired by the twisted genius that is Roald Dahl. With the script being written by Dennis Kelley, original songs and music by Tim Minchin, Directed by Mathew Wharcus and with a jaw dropping small but very talented cast truly brings this captivating musical to life.

From the moment you enter the theatre doors you are instantly transported into the fabulous world that is Matilda the Musical. The set is lit up by colourful books that spell out the word Matilda, swings hang from the ceiling. A puzzle of library books join together to make easy and interchangeable, and from the moment the lights dim on the audience and the spotlight hits the stage you are constantly enchanted by the musical masterpiece that revels in the anarchy of child hood, the power of imagination and the inspiring story of a girl who dares to change her destiny.

Now if you are a 90’s kid like my sister and myself you surely know the movie Matilda, about the little kid with horrible parents who is so smart that her intelligence starts to become magic and suddenly she has the ability to move things with her mind. You know the one starring Danny Devito, Rhea Perlman and Mara Wilson.

Matilda the musical sticks to majority of the same themes, the story of the intelligent child who uses the power of imagination, her brain and storytelling to escape from her horrible parents and principal.

The thing that amazes me most about Matilda the musical is that not only are the songs both original and amazing but also the theme of Matilda’s made up story about the Escapologist and the Acrobat and the parallel of the truthful story that is Miss. Honey’s. The other thing that amazes me is how together and amazingly talented the Brisbane cast is. Filled with a majority of young talent it is truly outstanding to see how talented and how polished the Brisbane Matilda cast is.

A few of Matilda the musical stars are;

James Millar: who plays the role everybody loves to hate, Miss. Trunchbull. TRAINING: Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA).THEATRE: Noel and Gertie (Christine Dunstan Productions); Chess: UK Tour(Milton Morrissey); The Ring Cycle (Royal Opera House, Covent Gardens); Martin Short Live (Sydney Opera House); Grey Gardens (The Production Company); 

LoveBites (Whitebox and Onward); BoyBand (Seymour); Floyd Collins, A Little Touch of Chaos (WAAPA); Showstoppers (Luckiest); The Little Dog Laughed(Ensemble Theatre); Gutenberg! The Musical (Neil Gooding Productions); Jerry Springer: The Opera (Sydney Opera House); Lovebites, Return Season(Whitebox/Bite); The Letter (Twelfth Night Theatre); Company (The National Musical Theatre Company); Snugglepot and Cuddlepie (Company B);Floyd Collins(Kookaburra); Oklahoma (TPC); Eureka(Essgee).TELEVISION: Naked: Coral Island (ABC); Home and Away(Seven Network); Water Rats; Police Rescue; The Leaving of Liverpool (ABC); A Country Practice(Seven Network); The Investigators (ABC).FILM: The Eternity Man; The Leaving of Liverpool; Naked: Coral Island.OTHER: AudioBook narrator (Audible); Writer of Lovebites, The Hatpin, A Little Touch of Chaos.Director: Urinetown, Assassins (WAAPA). Finalist Cardiff Voice of Music Theatre; Green Room Award for Best Supporting Actor, Oklahoma!; Short and Sweet Festival Award for Best Actor inBlenderman; Sydney Theatre Awards for Best Cabaret, LoveBites; Sydney Theatre Awards nomination for Best New Australian Work, Hatpin; Green Room Award Nomination for Male Artist in a Leading role in Musical Theatre, Gutenberg! The Musical; Sydney Theatre Award & Glug Award Nomination;Gutenberg; Green Room Award, Best Supporting Actor;Oklahoma; Sydney Cabaret Showcase Award Winner; Winner of the 2016 Helpmann Award for Best Male Actor in a Musical for Matilda The Musical.

Elise McCann: The most loveable character in Matilda, Miss Honey.

TRAINING: Music Theatre, The National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA); Larry Moss 16th Street.

THEATRE: Ali in the 10th Anniversary Australian Tour ofMAMMA MIA!(Littlestar); Lucille Ball in the Australian Tour of Everybody Loves Lucy (Luckiest Productions), Janet McGregor in the Australian tour of South Pacific(Opera Australia/Gordon Frost Organisation); The World Premier/Australian Tour ofDoctor Zhivago (Gordon Frost Organisation); Fruma Sarah in the Australian Tour of Fiddler on the Roof (TML Enterprises); Cordelia inFalsettos (Darlinghurst Theatre Company); Florinda inInto The Woods (Victorian Arts Opera); Little Women(Kookaburra Australian National Theatre Company); My Fair Lady (Opera Australia); Camelot (The Production Company); Side By Side By Sondheim (Enda Markey Presents); June in Musical of Musicals (Tryptech Theatre); Imelda Thornton in On The Twentieth Century(Neglected Musicals Australia), Sydney Carlton in It’s a Bird It’s a Plane It’s Superman, (Neglected Musicals Australia).

TELEVISION: Lynne Woolnough in Peter Allen: Not The Boy Next Door(Shine/Network 7).

OTHER WORK INCLUDES: Winner of the 2016 Helpmann Award and winner of the 2015 Sydney Theatre Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical for her portrayal of Miss Honey in Matilda The Musical. Performed alongside Stephen Schwartz and Leigh Sales in the concert In Conversations With Stephen Schwartz(Enda Markey Presents); Founder of Oriel Productions and Executive Producer of ‘I Am My Own Wife’ by Doug Wright (Old Fitz Theatre),

but the person the Fresh Flayva girls were most impressed with was the very talented Annabella Cowley, who plays the girl we all have been talking about,MATILDA!

Not only did she have an amazing voice, but this gorgeous 10 year old did a fabulous job staying in character keeping her accent, not only with speaking but even staying in accent whilst singing which is very difficult to do as even more experienced actors struggle with. She is also a very gifted little dancer, and just an all round superstar in the making.

Matilda was such a great musical filled with love, light and mischief, the Fresh Flayva girls thought Matilda the Musical as a whole was one of the best put together musicals they have seen and that is why they rated Matilda the musical a 9 1/ 2 out of 10. L&R :) x

and don’t worry if you missed out on the Brisbane or Melbourne season you can still catch Matilda the musical in Perth and Adelaide as they are headed to Perth on the 28th of Feb.

You can follow Matilda the musical journey on Instagram:

@matildainoz

Facebook at:

https://www.facebook.com/MatildainAustralia/

and online at:

http://au.matildathemusical.com/

This weekend saw Matilda The Musical welcome its ONE MILLIONTH audience member in Australia through the doors at Crown Theatre in Perth!

First time seeing this show live, and wow

 Pretty sure Eva Murawski was my Matilda. We were sitting pretty far back so it could have been Annabella Cowley. Anyways she had a lovely strong voice. I did feel like she was reciting lines rather than acting them, but it kind of works with the character since she’s so beaten down. She did enunciate every word clearly, and the accents work quite nicely. 

Lucy Maunder was on for Miss Honey, she has such a lovely singing voice. She did flub a line towards the end but otherwise great performance.

James Millar as Trunchbull was great. I feel like he wasn't overly consistent in embodying the character, as sometimes he was quite feminine and other times more masculine, but overall a great performance. 

I really liked Marika Aubrey’s interpretation of Mrs Wormwood, she was a little softer in her line delivery than Margherita, which I quite liked. I feel like her dance could have been more technically strong, but otherwise she was great

Daniel Frederiksen was pretty good, but not a stand out performance. His line delivery did feel very natural though.

I really don't like Mrs Phelps as a character, she’s just annoying.

Kids were great, so switched on all the time. Shontaè Minniecon (Hortensia) said her spelling bee lines super sassy which I loved. Too far back to recognise facial features so I’m not sure who else was on. I noticed they spoke quite slowly, and were careful to enunciate every word.

One thing I found really cool was that during quiet, Matilda had a jagged box lighting effect around her, instead of standing on a pile of books. I really liked this as it separated her from what was happening around her, and, paired with the other characters being frozen, was very effective.

School song was insane to see live, the lighting, choreography and use of props and stage were just perfect. That is how you stage a number.