Girl's power play

The sassy and brave titular character of musical stage production Matilda is inspiring and entertaining Chinese audiences in equal measure, Chen Nan reports.

The theater is full of magic.

When 23-year-old Wang Ruoxuan watched the musical, Matilda, on Nov 21 at Beijing's Poly Theater, she was confronted with an explosion of colors, books and letters as children on long rope swings flew back and forth while singing one of the show's headline musical numbers, When I Grow Up.

"I came to watch the musical unprepared for what I was about to see. I had never heard of it before, but now I want to watch it again," says Beijing-based Wang, who is currently pursuing her master's degree in Chinese language at Beijing Normal University.

Wang adds that when she first saw the poster of the musical, which has a little girl standing strong with hands firmly on hips, she thought the musical was for kids.

"In fact, it's a show with a sophisticated story and rich characters," she adds. "It is performed with high energy and projects girl power."

Matilda's first tour in China - which started in July and will continue until January 2020 - kicked off in Dongguan, Guangdong province, and is visiting 13 Chinese cities, including Xi'an, Shaanxi province; Shanghai, and Nanjing in Jiangsu province. From Nov 21 through Dec 1, the musical is being staged in the capital.

Inspired by the beloved book by British novelist, Roald Dahl (1916-90), the musical Matilda, by the Royal Shakespeare Company, premiered at the Courtyard Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon in November 2010, and made its Broadway debut in 2013.

It tells the story of the eponymous little girl, who, armed with a vivid imagination and a sharp mind, dares to stand up for herself against bullies, her cruel parents and awful headmistress, changing her own destiny along the way.

Dahl, whose many classics include Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and James and the Giant Peach, has had his books translated into 58 languages, with many being adapted for stage and screen - in some cases more than once.

After Dahl's novel Matilda was published in 1988, a popular film starring Danny DeVito and Pam Ferris followed in 1996.

With scripts written by Dennis Kelly and original songs by Tim Minchin, Matilda has won over 85 international awards, including Tony Awards for best musical and best original score.

"Before we came to China, we had a strong sense that the Chinese audience would connect with the story. It has been surprising just how real that connection is," says producer Paul Warwick Griffin of GWB Entertainment, the company that stages the show around the world.

Griffin's professional involvement with China dates back to about two decades, when British musical composer Andrew Lloyd Webber's award-winning musical, Cats, first came to China in 2003 with shows in Shanghai and Beijing. As a member of the production team, he was impressed by the growth and explosion of the Chinese musical theater scene.

He notes that he was particularly impressed by the audiences when Matilda was staged in Hefei, Anhui province. Toward the end of the evening, when the titular character speaks fluently in another language, "it's thrilling to see the reaction of the audience. They seemed to celebrate the night, the story, Matilda's triumph, and the young actress playing the role of Matilda the whole night", the producer adds.

The audiences, many of them young people, have shown great passion for the musical.

Yang Yue, a 25-year-old die-hard musical fan was another one of the enthralled audience members who watched Matilda in Beijing on Nov 21.

Yang says: "My favorite scenes were the performances of the songs, School Song and Revolting Children. Clever use of words and phonetics make up the lyrics and all were set to fast-paced choreography, which was captivating.

"The little girl mirrors what's lacking in the adult world, such as being brave and real.

"The characters are so vivid, such as the school's mean headmistress, Miss Trunchbull, and Matilda's teacher, Miss Honey, who recognizes her genius and encourages her."

According to He Lei, executive producer of Chinese theatrical adaptation company Seven Ages, negotiations to bring Matilda to China started five years ago.

He, who was born in Haimen city, Jiangsu province, obtained her bachelor's degree of English literature from Peking University in 2008 and studied at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. After returning to Shanghai, she joined Seven Ages in 2016.

He, who watched Matilda 20 times, recalls: "I first watched the musical, Matilda, in 2014 in London and fell in love with it immediately. It was a highlight among the many musical productions that I have watched around the world."

The international tour company includes a cast made up of both children and adults.

To make the China tour happen, the translation of the lyrics took more than six months to complete, and even more time was spent re-engineering the stage sets.

Griffin says: "Though I cannot understand Chinese, I can see the brilliance of the translation by watching the audience. They respond exactly the way they should, at exactly the right time. They get the jokes."

Griffin recalls seeing Matilda for the first time at its London premiere in 2010, describing it as "the best version of everything".

"I worked with the same creative team on another musical, Ghost, which was right before Matilda opened. The clever and intricate details of Matilda, combined with love and laughter, offer something for everyone," Griffin says.

The musical Matilda by the Royal Shakespeare Company is touring China. Based on Roald Dahl's novel, it tells the story of a little girl with a vivid imagination and a sharp mind, who dares to stand up for herself against the life challenges. Photos provided to China Daily