A while ago, me and my family had the joyous opportunity of watching Matilda The Musical at Cambridge Theatre, and (much to my enjoyment) it was one of the greatest musicals I have ever seen for a while. 

Where to begin, however? There were a lot of aspects of the show which contributed to the wonderful performance. From the very moment you set your eyes on the stage before the play, you could see the intricate designs of letters covering the sides of the stage. Different letters and different fonts seemed to be displayed in random areas at first, but upon closer inspection, you would notice that words were written horizontally and vertically (although my memory was a bit vague, I believe that I remembered seeing words such as “run” and “fight”). Overall, it looked aesthetically pleasing to the eye, and it really helped accentuate the design and choreography of the performance. 

Speaking of choreography, the energy in every dance routine was astounding. From the beginning of the play, you’re immediately lured into the show with little children's hands crawling from underneath the table (which sounds very peculiar, doesn’t it?) before they spring from the table and burst out singing and dancing enthusiastically. Even though the first scene of the show was engaging, my favourite dance routine in the show (which is only one of many. There were way too many routines which got me pumped up) was the “Alphabet Song”. In this routine, the main attraction was a large gate, with uneven, square-shaped holes, which the dancers used not only for climbing on, but also to insert wooden blocks with the letters of the alphabet on them. This went extremely well with the song being sung and it was interesting to see letters being put into the gate that correlated with the lyrics. 

To tie it up, the actors were nothing short of fantastic. My favourite actress was our star Matilda, (who was played by Heidi Williams) and she performed amazingly. It was lovely to see so much energy displayed from her throughout the entirety of the performance, and it was amazing to see someone so young give it her all; I know she was definitely tired after the play! She also made me chuckle during certain scenes too. For example, there was a scene which she was mentioning all the ‘advanced’ books she had been reading at her age, and one of the books she had mentioned was Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky! (It made me happy that my literature knowledge came in handy for that very moment, as I was not expecting her to mention that at all!) 

In summary, the show was incredible; there was never a dull moment, and I guarantee that there is still so many words of praises and positive reviews that still need to be mentioned. Congratulations to everyone who was a part of the play and thank you for this unforgettable experience!