MATIL DA T H E MU S ICAL
A LOVE LETTER TO THE POWER OF STORIES AN INTERVIEW WITH TIM MINCHIN
Australian comedian, actor, writer, musician, composer, lyricist, and director Tim Minchin wrote his first theatrical score at 18 and has since written the music and lyrics for the stage version of Matilda. The interview below, slightly edited for clarity, originally appeared in the Bristol Magazine. How did you first get involved in Matilda the Musical? Back in 2008 I was beginning to get some traction as a comedian. The Royal Shakespeare Company called me in for a meeting and I didn’t know what it was about, so I sort of walked in blind. Matthew Warchus, who was so unassuming I didn’t realize he was a giant of his field, asked if I knew Roald Dahl’s work. I said yes, of course, and he said they were thinking about making a musical of Matilda. I told him the same thought had occurred to me a few years earlier and I’d even tried to get the rights. So it was 18
a moment of huge convergence. But because things were going well in my comedy career, when they first offered me the job I hesitated. Fortunately I ignored my doubts when I realized what an amazing opportunity this was. What were your priorities when it came to writing the music? Writing musicals is hard, because it’s really easy for them to be cheesy nonsense. And with Dahl it felt especially important to avoid this. He was the king of my childhood, and he wrote with this holy trinity of humor, heart, and darkness. The humor
