Matilda The Musical at a glance

Show
Matilda The Musical
Venue
Cambridge Theatre, West End
Address
32-34 Earlham Street, Seven Dials, London WC2H 9HU
Nearest station
Covent Garden (3 min walk)
Genre
Musical — family / comedy
Running time
2 hours 35 minutes, including one 20-minute interval
Age guidance
6+ (under 4s not admitted; every child must occupy their own seat)
Dates
Currently booking until 17 January 2027
Schedule
Tue–Sat 7pm; matinees Wed/Sat 2pm; Sun 3pm
Price range
From £39 (typically £39–£162)
Music & lyrics
Tim Minchin
Book
Dennis Kelly (based on the novel by Roald Dahl)
Director
Matthew Warchus

Expert Review: Matilda The Musical at the Cambridge Theatre

4.7
★★★★★

LTH Expert Rating

Reviewed by the London Theatre Hub editorial team. Last updated: 30 April 2026.

The Verdict

Fifteen years into its Cambridge Theatre run, Matilda is still doing what almost no other family musical in the West End manages: respecting children as a serious audience. Tim Minchin's score is genuinely clever, with internal rhymes that reward attention and melodies that survive repeat listening. Dennis Kelly's book preserves the dangerous, anti-authoritarian edge of Roald Dahl's novel — Crunchem Hall is a totalitarian state in miniature, and the show takes that seriously rather than softening it. The result is a musical that adults enjoy without condescension and children love without being talked down to.

The 5,000-performance milestone in late 2024 was earned. Matthew Warchus's production, with Rob Howell's design, Peter Darling's percussive choreography, and Paul Kieve's illusions, has been refined into something close to perfect. Jon Robyns's Miss Trunchbull is the funniest and most threatening in the role's recent history. The four girls who share Matilda — currently Emilia Shefford, Sithuni Gamage, Bonnie Harper, and Carla Lopez-Corpas — deliver performances of remarkable confidence. This is one of the rare West End musicals that feels essential, not optional.

What Makes It Special

  • Seven Olivier Awards. When Matilda swept the 2012 Oliviers — Best New Musical, Best Director, Best Actress (shared by all four young Matildas, the first time the Olivier committee had done that), Best Actor, and three more — it was the largest haul for a musical in that ceremony's history at the time. The 2013 Tony Awards followed for the Broadway transfer. Over 100 international awards now, including 25 Best Musical wins.
  • Tim Minchin's score. The Australian composer-comedian wrote his first stage musical here and produced one of the smartest scores of the last 25 years. "When I Grow Up," "Naughty," "Revolting Children," "School Song," "Quiet" — these are properly written songs with lyrical density and emotional architecture. Children memorise them word-for-word; adults hear something different on each listen.
  • The four Matildas. The role rotates between four young performers per season — partly child-labour-law practicality, partly a creative principle. Each Matilda brings a distinctive read on the character. The 2026 company is led by Emilia Shefford, joined from 17 March 2026 by Sithuni Gamage, Bonnie Harper, and Carla Lopez-Corpas. The rotation means no two performances are quite the same.
  • Matthew Warchus's production design. Rob Howell's set — built around oversized Scrabble tiles, reading-room shelves and primary-school iconography — is one of the most-photographed designs in the West End. Peter Darling's choreography turns child performers into a percussive ensemble. Paul Kieve's illusions deliver the show's quieter shocks (the chalkboard scene still draws gasps after fifteen years).
  • It says something. Matilda is genuinely about something — about how authoritarian systems deny children agency, about the protective power of books and learning, about the small acts of rebellion that change lives. Most family musicals settle for nice; Matilda settles for true. That is why critics from The Guardian, The Telegraph and Time Out have all returned to the show across its run and continued to award it top marks.

You'll love Matilda if you...

  • Want a family musical that respects children as serious audience members
  • Love sharp, witty lyrics and properly written musical theatre songs
  • Grew up reading Roald Dahl and want a faithful but fearless adaptation
  • Want to see exceptional young performers — the kid ensemble is one of the West End's strongest
  • Like comedy with a sharp edge: Trunchbull is genuinely funny and genuinely menacing

It might not be for you if you...

  • Prefer your musicals straightforwardly sweet — Matilda has bite
  • Find Roald Dahl's deliberately grotesque comedy distasteful
  • Are bringing very young or sensitive children — some Trunchbull moments are intense
  • Want a romance-driven show — Matilda is about a child and her teacher, not couples
  • Already saw the 2022 Netflix film and prefer that scaled-down adaptation

Best for

  • Families
  • Roald Dahl fans
  • Children 6+
  • Tim Minchin fans
  • Tourists
  • Musical theatre lovers

Not the strongest fit for very young children or audiences seeking pure light entertainment.

Critical Reception

Matilda has been one of the most consistently praised musicals in modern West End history, with five-star ratings from most major UK publications since opening in 2011. Critics regularly cite Tim Minchin's score, Dennis Kelly's book, Matthew Warchus's direction, and the strength of the rotating young ensemble. Verified ratings from major UK publications:

  • The Guardian ★★★★★
  • The Telegraph ★★★★★
  • Time Out ★★★★
  • Official Theatre ★★★★★
  • Daily Express ★★★★★

Source: published reviews of the London production at the Cambridge Theatre.

Everything You Need to Know

What happens in Matilda?

Matilda Wormwood is a five-year-old genius born into a family that hates books. Her father Mr Wormwood is a dodgy second-hand car dealer who calls his daughter "boy"; her mother Mrs Wormwood is consumed by ballroom dance competitions; her brother Michael is glued to the television. Matilda, who taught herself to read at three and has worked through most of the public library by five, copes by escaping into stories.

An act of rebellion

The show's first big number, "Naughty," establishes Matilda's central principle: if the system is unjust, sometimes you have to be a little bit naughty to fix it. She begins by quietly sabotaging her father — peroxide in his hair dye, glue in his hat. Tim Minchin and Dennis Kelly take what could be slapstick and turn it into something more interesting: Matilda decides her own story rather than waiting for one to happen to her.

Crunchem Hall

Matilda starts school under the kind eye of Miss Honey, who immediately recognises her brilliance. But the headmistress is the terrifying Miss Trunchbull — former hammer-throwing champion, current child-hater. Trunchbull runs Crunchem Hall as a personal fiefdom. The "Chokey," the "School Song," the cake-eating punishment of poor Bruce Bogtrotter — these are the deliberately grotesque set pieces that define the school sequences, played for laughs and genuine menace at once.

Miss Honey's story

Matilda discovers that Miss Honey was raised by Trunchbull (her aunt) after her father's mysterious death, and that Trunchbull stole both Miss Honey's inheritance and her childhood home. The "Quiet" sequence — in which Matilda's hidden powers begin to manifest as the world around her stops — is one of the show's most beautiful moments. The story Matilda has been telling Mrs Phelps in the library, about the Acrobat and the Escapologist, turns out to be Miss Honey's parents' story.

Revolting children

Matilda's confrontation with Trunchbull, using her telekinetic powers to write Miss Honey's father's name on the board, drives Trunchbull from the school. Miss Honey reclaims her home and adopts Matilda, whose own parents are fleeing Russian gangsters. The closing number, "Revolting Children," gives the kid ensemble the biggest celebration of agency in modern musical theatre — a celebration of what happens when children stop being told and start telling.