West End favourite Gina Beck will play Miss Honey in the new adult cast of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Matilda The Musical at the Cambridge Theatre, with David Shannon set to star as Miss Trunchbull.
Beck, whose previous leading West End credits include Glinda in Wicked and Christine Daaé in The Phantom Of The Opera, will assume the role on Tuesday 12 September. She will be joined by Shannon (previous West End credits including The Phantom in The Phantom Of The Opera and Jean Valjean in Les Misérables) as Roald Dahl’s notoriously nasty headmistress.
Tom Edden (Amadeus, National Theatre; One Man, Two Guvnors, National Theatre) will take on the role of Mr Wormwood, Matilda’s neglectful father, while Marianne Benedict (Grizabella in Cats, UK Tour) will play Mrs Wormwood. The full adult cast will also include Keisha Amponsa Banson, Richard Astbury, David Birch, Maria Graciano, Karina Hind, Peter Houston, Katie Lee, Vicki Lee Taylor, Kris Manuel, Bryan Mottram, Tom Muggeridge, Emma Robotham-Hunt, Simon Shorten, Biancha Szynal, Callum Train and Robert Tregoning. The new children’s cast is set to be revealed in due course.
Matilda The Musical is now in its sixth West End year, and is currently booking at the Cambridge Theatre until 28 May 2018. Based on Dahl’s story of a brilliant schoolgirl who discovers she possesses a very special gift – as well as the determination to stand up for herself and cause a little mischief – the seven-time Olivier Award winning musical is also set to embark on a UK and Ireland tour in 2018/19.
Seen by over 7 million people across 60 cities and playing more than 5300 performances worldwide, Matilda The Musical is winner of 86 major international awards, including 16 for Best Musical, and is now the longest running production to play at the Cambridge Theatre. With music and lyrics by Tim Minchin, book by Dennis Kelly, and direction by Matthew Warchus, the show is produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company.