Autumn Lewis-Eaddy

I am a 90’s kid and my husband, kids, and I watched the original “Matilda” and excitedly went in to watch the musical version and we were all so very saddened to see the injustice done to the original screenplay. There were so many changes that it didn’t even feel like the same story. Her brother doesn’t exist and the missing line of “Harry Wormwood has unintentionally given his daughter the first practical advice she could use. ‘He meant to say, “When a child is bad”. Instead he said “when a person is bad”, and thereby, introduced a revolutionary idea, that children can punish their parents.” With that line missing it kind of loses her perspective and causes Matilda to come off as a righteous know it all, instead of a defender of the underdog. As someone who lives and breathes musicals, the music felt a bit out of place. The kids are incredibly talented and I loved their voices, but the songs didn’t really speak to me, apart from MAYBE the last two song. My kids actually asked us to change because they were so bored. I love the original “Matilda” and this doesn’t feel like “Matilda”…