Matilda celebrates 15 years as West End success story

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   Matilda celebrates 15 years as West End success story

   BBC NewsPublished Oct 23, 2026Checked Oct 23, 2026

   “Matilda The Musical is celebrating 15 years since its debut in London A musical that began life as a Christmas production in Stratford-upon-Avon has become one of the biggest theatre successes of the century as it celebrates 15 years in London's West End. Matilda The Musical, which is now the 10th longest-running musical in West End history, has been seen by more than 12 million people around the world, staged more than 10,000 performances and played in more than 100 cities. Composer and lyricist Tim Minchin said he was still amazed by the show's success. "Probably the biggest family musical of this century is written by [us] couple of idiots," he joked. Based on Roald Dahl's classic children's novel, the production premiered at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon in 2010 before transferring to the West End the following year. Composer Tim Minchin and writer Dennis Kelly said they never expected the show's global success Written by Dennis Kelly, with music and lyrics by Minchin, the musical has gone on to win more than 100 international awards, including 25 for best musical. Kelly said neither of them expected the production to become a global phenomenon. "If we'd made a successful show at Stratford, we'd have been delighted," he said. "I just remember the first night... the audience going crazy and I just wasn't ready for it all.”

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   Matilda the Musical (Wikipedia)

   WikipediaChecked Oct 23, 2026

   “Roald Dahl's Matilda, also known simply as Matilda and Matilda the Musical, is a musical with music and lyrics by Tim Minchin and a book by Dennis Kelly. It is based on the 1988 novel Matilda by Roald Dahl. The musical's narrative centres on Matilda Wormwood, a precocious five-year-old girl with the gift of telekinesis, who loves reading, overcomes obstacles caused by her family and school, and helps her teacher to reclaim her life. After a twelve-week trial run staged by the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) at Stratford-upon-Avon from November 2010 to January 2011, it received its West End premiere on 24 November 2011 at the Cambridge Theatre and its Broadway premiere on 11 April 2013 at the Shubert Theatre. Matilda the Musical as you have already seen Roald Dahl is a world renowned writer who has received widespread critical acclaim and box-office popularity, winning seven 2012 Olivier Awards, including Best New Musical—at the time, the highest number of such awards ever won by a single show. Cleo Demetriou, Kerry Ingram, Eleanor Worthington-Cox and Sophia Kiely shared a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical.”

3. 3

   Recycled culture: the significance of intertextuality in twenty-first century musical theatre

   Lincoln Repository (University of Lincoln) (Rush et al.)Published Jul 12, 2017Checked Oct 23, 2026

   “Given the proliferation of such intertextuality, however, this trend has received little critical attention beyond the detailing of these musicals as ‘safe-bet’ entertainments which attract an audience through the recycling of familiar elements. \nThe primary aim of this thesis is therefore to fill an important gap within existing scholarship by investigating how intertextual references function and operate within contemporary musical theatre. In differentiating the various styles of intertextual reference evidenced within the form, this thesis argues that most twenty-first century musicals either adapt a specific text, capitalise on nostalgia, fashion a bricolage of references or metatheatricalise perceptions of musical theatre as an art form. In doing so, it put forwards the claim that musical theatre invites intertextuality as a diverse layering of textual elements in and of itself. Not only is musical theatre an inherently intertextual form, but it ultimately requires intertextuality to reflect the recycled nature of popular culture more broadly.”

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   The Mikado to Matilda

   Rowman & Littlefield Publishers eBooks (Hischak)Published Jan 1, 2020Checked Oct 23, 2026

   “In The Mikado to Matilda: British Musicals on the New York Stage, Thomas Hischak provides an overview of British musicals that made their way to Broadway, covering their entire history up to the present day. This is the first book to look at the British musical theatre with reference to those London musicals that were also produced in New York City. The book covers 110 British musicals, ranging from 1750 to the present day, including the popular Gilbert and Sullivan comic operettas during the Victorian era, the Andrew Lloyd Webber mega-musicals of the late twentieth century, and today's biggest hits such as Matilda. Each London musical is discussed first as a success in England and then how it fared in America. The plots, songs, songwriters, performers, and producers for both the West End and the Broadway (or Off Broadway) production are identified and described. The discussion is sometimes critical, evaluating the musicals and why they were or were not a success in New York.”