Saturday 29th December 2018, my last show for this year, and it’s at the Millennium Centre here in Cardiff Bay to watch my 4th performance of ‘Matilda’.

I’ve talked about how brilliant this cast is so I’d like to move on to the music and songs for the show, written by Tim Minchin. Act one begins with ‘Miracle’ sung by the children’s ensemble at first until the adult Ensemble come in later in the piece. A great introduction to the proceedings as it gives the audience a chance to assess all the Ensemble cast working together.

Next up we have ‘Naughty’, and a chance to here the voice of Matilda as she sings her first solo piece of the musical, a cracking little song, always sung brilliantly by the Matilda appearing in that performance, tonight was the turn of Nicola Turner, who was outstanding in the role.

The scenes move quickly to the next piece entitled ‘School Song’ which is sung by the both Ensembles as school children, another great song which is far better watching live on stage than the CD would suggest, involving the school gates and some letters, a really fancy creative piece and choreographed to perfection.

‘Pathetic’ appears next on the playlist when we get to here the beautifully stunning voice of ‘Miss Honey’ (Carly Thoms). This piece moves onto the entrance of Miss Trunchbull, a rather fearsome headmistress, and the first song of her repertoire, ‘The Hammer’ another piece where we first get to hear the singing voice in action, quite impressive it is too, lots of action involved, a very energetic song to go with it.

Next up is a song to broadcast the voice of Mrs Wormwood, with ‘Loud’ a dance spectacle with her and Rudolpho. Yet another energetic song written to make the actors work for their money. Another song better seen live than the CD would suggest.

Just after ‘Loud’ we have another brilliant song, sung by Miss Honey entitled ‘This Little Girl’, about Matilda and how special she is. This is a short piece of music but again really beautifully sung, and one of my favourites within the show.

The final song of act one is simply entitled ‘Bruce’, as we see the cake eating scene brought to life. Another superbly written song, choreographed and sung by the children’s ensemble. Yet another song needed to be seen live on stage to appreciate the intricacies of the scene.

The cast for tonight’s performance appears in the caption below.