The Royal Shakespeare Company has announced that the first five previews of forthcoming Cambridge theatre production Matilda The Musical have been cancelled.
The show – which today celebrates two Theatre Awards UK nominations for its Stratford-Upon-Avon run – will now begin previews on 25 October with a new press night scheduled for 24 November.
The delay is due to the fact that the structural work and extensive installation required for the show has taken longer than planned. As many of the cast members in the Matthew Warchus-directed production are children, this has had a knock on effect with rehearsal time.
Andre Ptaszynski, Executive Producer of Matilda The Musical, made the following statement: “Every musical theatre production of this scale goes through similar challenges during this pre-opening period, but Matilda has a cast made up of three different teams of young actors and four young actresses in the title role. This means that, unlike other shows, we cannot extend everyone’s working hours, take shortcuts and reduce the number of dress rehearsals to meet the date of the first preview.”
Ptaszynski assured people who have booked for the cancelled performances that they “are working hard to ensure that the re-booking process is as quick and as easy as possible”.
Anyone with tickets for the cancelled previews will be contacted directly by the RSC and its ticking partners to arrange tickets for alternative performances.
CM