As a classic musical in London's West End, the musical "Matilda" has swept the world for 8 years since its premiere, and it is also a hard to find in Shanghai. This play is a compulsory course for literacy appreciation that many musical theater education has always advocated, why should art literacy education start from musicals, and why can "Matilda" become a compulsory course for musical theater artistic literacy?
Matilda the Musical
It is a musical adaptation of the children's literature of the same name, written and arranged by Tim Minchin. The Royal British Shakespeare Company produced a new version and premiered in 2010, followed by the 2012 Lawrence Oliver Awards won 7 Oliver Awards for Best New Work, Actor, Director, Choreography, Installation Design, etc., and also won 5 Tony Awards for American Drama, its outstanding achievements and fans make it known as a British national treasure musical, it won more than 86 musical awards, and in 2012 it won all the stage design awards, which is a musical that has won awards.
Help your child understand themselves
Matilda tells a self-growth story about reading and wisdom, discrimination and resistance, tenacity and pursuit.
The little protagonist Matilda is a typical "other person's child", she is smart and hardworking, loves to read, and has read all the world famous books at a young age; She is kind and brave, dares to face the bullying on campus, and also has a heart that knows how to repay the good of teachers.
Matilda's parents, on the other hand, are selfish, indifferent and son-oriented, believing that studying is the most useless thing in the world, and the only thing they love is Matilda's stupid brother who is unlearned and stupid—just because he is a boy.
Matilda didn't have a good time at school, and the principal, Chuan Zibu, was a violent fanatic who hated children, and she often said viciously: "I have never understood why children are so annoying." They are the scourge of my life. They are like bugs, and the sooner they are eliminated, the better. "There is no love for students, only corporal punishment, and even throwing students out of the wall."
Although "Matilda" is a children's musical work, its connotation of practical significance is about to come out:
"An unhappy childhood should be healed with a lifetime", children who do not get real care and guidance in childhood, are often indifferent and ignored, and even violently hurt, will live under the psychological shadow for a lifetime. It is in such an environment that Matilda strives to grow up against the wind and Nirvana, which also has a "power of example" for today's children.
Adults sometimes have a hard time really understanding children, we seem to have forgotten their childhood moments, how to become friends with children, into the child's heart, understand their code of conduct, with their close way of getting along to reconstruct the society, can we be sensitive and patient, willing to explore the child's inner world, "crouch down" to listen to their real thoughts? Releasing and expressing what you think in your heart is also an important responsibility to grasp the inner heart of the characters in the play in music literacy education, so as to observe society from the perspective of human nature and figure out the role.
Varied songs and imaginative choreography
The whole play is full of imaginative choreography, rich plot, great singing skills and stage performance ability, creating a "happy city" for children!
Matilda's world is not the conventional world we perceive, so the principal can throw children out of the window like a chain ball, Matilda has the special ability to move objects through the air, and imaginary stories can become reality.
The show's choreography highlights the colorful and magical world of children. When the audience enters the theater, they are greeted by the stacked letters of an uppercase M from the bottom to the top of the entire framed stage, which is quite interesting, indicating that a magical world is about to be displayed, and the seemingly random stacking of instability hints at Matilda's rebellious heart.
The stage design is ingenious, the combination of square types forms different scenes through various changes, such as the library, the principal's office, etc., and the frame design is both the school gate, the bookshelf, the washing table, etc. The lights are ever-changing, and a glass ball common to Disco hangs on each side of the stage, which needs to be rotated in time to cast a fine light throughout the theater. The combination of choreography and lighting with Matilda's narration, the actors' performances and the display of light and shadow plays creates a star-like fairy tale color.
In order to show Matilda's magical world, the ingenuity of the installation makes the play unique, and the special effects design invited the magician Paul Kieve, who designed the special effects for the musical "Man Ghost is Gone", who showed the audience with his genius creativity the amazing and wonderful scenes of children falling from the sky, children being carried in braids by the principal, chalk writing automatically, and so on.
The world is simple and complex in the eyes of children, they will be shaken by all kinds of things, and they will also acquire the noble qualities needed for a lifetime because of a most direct example.