I’ll be honest: Matilda is my favorite of all the Roald Dahl books, and its musical was long overdue. After all, another Roald Dahl book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory got its own musical, which became quite possibly the most overused musical in children’s theatre ever. (From when I was in third grade to twelfth grade alone, there were at least five separate children’s productions of the Willy Wonka musical. I don’t really blame them, but one tends to get sick of the same musical that many times.)
But while the Willy Wonka musical has been around for quite a while (I haven’t been able to find an exact date for its premiere, but from my own memory, it’s been around since at least 2008) Matilda didn’t get its theatrical adaptation until 2010. (The musical didn’t premiere in the United States until 2013.)
Now, the musical is fantastic. And clearly that’s not just my opinion, since Matilda the Musical was nominated for 9 Olivier Awards (the British equivalent of the Tonys) and won 7. For comparison, it’s tied with Hamilton for the most Oliviers won. So kind of a big deal.
The Matilda musical and book (and the movie too) are all very similar to each other. Plotwise, there aren’t any huge changes, aside from a few things here and there.
One little touch I appreciated in the musical is the way they did the opening. It correlates with the book in a way the movie couldn’t.
See, the book opens with a little pontification of how parents tend to believe their child is a perfect angel. It discusses how no matter how awful a child’s behavior, often the parents will insist their child is flawless and a little miracle.
The musical’s opening number, “Miracle” is about how most parents think their child is a miracle. In the midst of snobbish parents fussing over their offspring, the song cuts to Matilda being born. At that end, we meet a five year old Matilda, who contrasts all the parents and children who have been singing before by telling the audience exactly what her parents have said to and about her.
It’s a startlingly dark moment. Just moments ago, parents and kids were singing about how perfect their kids were, and now we have a solemn little girl singing, “My daddy says I should learn to shut my pie hole/no one likes a smartmouth girl like me.” The number takes the same energy of the book’s opening, but the song’s ending introduction of Matilda hits hard emotionally in a way the book didn’t.
But the real song I want to talk about here is the song “Quiet”. It comes fairly late in the musical, around the middle of the second act. It is the song in which Matilda discovers her telekinetic powers, but if you listen to the song alone without context, you may not realize that’s what is happening.
The setup for the song is that Matilda’s in school, with Mrs. Trunchbull angry at her. Mrs. Trunchbull is shouting and screaming awful things at Matilda. Then music begins and slowly drowns her out as Matilda lifts her head to the audience and then begins to sing.
More than any other song in this musical, this one is sung to the audience. It is an intimate number of Matilda explaining her thoughts and feelings to us.
She starts off explaining how she wonders about paradoxical things sometimes-like how there’s no way to know if we’re perceiving colors the same way as anyone else, and how travel at the speed of light works.
She then goes on to tell of how she wonders if she’s “not just a bit different from some of my friends” and of how things get to be too loud sometimes. She even says that she’s not sure she’s explaining it right, and tells that the noise becomes anger and the anger is a burning that usually goes away, but not today.
But then it does. For once, the noise goes away, and even though the people around Matilda are still talking, she notes that can’t hear them anymore.
At the end of the song, Matilda turns to the teacher’s desk, and makes an object move for the first time.
The first half of the song is the most noteworthy. While the very first lines demonstrate Matilda’s intelligence and thoughtfulness, the lines after that are what really interest me. Matilda describes what it’s like to have a sensory overload. Not before nor since this musical have I ever found a song that tried to depict this, let alone as well as “Quiet” does.
The knowledge that Matilda suffers from sensory overloads raises more questions. (The way she explains it in “Quiet” heavily implies that these happen for her fairly often, hence the line “And its burning inside me would usually fade/but it isn’t today!”) Sensory overload is often associated with autism, ADHD, and anxiety. Could this scene be evidence that Matilda, in the musical at least, has one of these neurodiversities?
Maybe. Maybe not.
But now children that experience sensory overload can feel seen by this song. They can relate to Matilda in a way they wouldn’t otherwise.
That’s part of the magic of “Quiet”. It peels back the prodigal layer of Matilda’s genius to show us for once the way it affects her. We’ve been sympathetic to her from the beginning (how could we not, with her cleverness and sense of justice, and the horrible family she’s been stuck with) but now we get to understand her better.
This song also serves as a direct contrast to Matilda’s mother. Whereas Matilda’s mother sings a whole number about being loud (aptly titled “Loud”) we see here that Matilda just yearns for the quiet.
“Quiet” may be a fairly simple song, but it’s brimming with so much meaning. Even now, years after I first heard it, listening to it gives me chills.
For all those reasons, “Quiet” is the song that elevates Matilda the Musical above the book and the movie. It is an exquisite song, and one that, just like the musical as a whole, despite its many accolades, still deserves more appreciation.