Matilda the Musical

This week, it was half term, and on Thursday, I went to London to see Matilda the Musical at the Cambridge Theatre in Covent Garden.

Matilda (by Roald Dahl) has been one of my favourite books ever since I was little, and still holds a special place in my heart because it was the first book I read in another language - my Spanish teacher lent the Spanish version to me last year. I'm not going to insult your intelligence by going too deep into the plot, but basically it's about a little girl who loves books.

The musical was fantastic - it was really energetic and exiting, although it had its sad parts too, and really captured the essence of the story. The little girl who played Matilda when I saw it (there are 4) was Lollie McKenzie, and she was absolutely amazing - she can't have been older than 7 or 8, but she had not only lines to learn, but songs and dances and cues as well! I've always had the greatest respect for actors, especially those in the theatre, because I'm awful at public speaking, but for a little girl to sing, dance and act so beautifully to so many people, she must have a huge amount of talent.

The music and lyrics were written by comedian and musician Tim Minchin, who is great and brought a new lease of life to the story. I highly recommend that you go and see it. You can buy the studio album of all the songs here.

When we were in London, we also went to Ladurée in Covent Garden, where I had the most delicious macarons you could ever imagine: one salted caramel flavour, and one raspberry. Yum. After the production, I insisted upon going to Foyles on Charing Cross Road, where I bought The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out Of The Window And Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson. I'm only a couple of chapters in, but it seems to be really good, and a bit of fun.

On the topic of books, this week my mum got out her French A-Level texts for me to try and read: I have La Symphonie Pastorale by Andre Gide and Le Grand Meaulnes by Alain-Fournier. Wish me luck as I try to plough through them!

Back to school tomorrow, so I should probably get to bed. Night!

Matilda the Musical
The Hundred-Year-Old Man