London - Cambridge Theatre and Matilda, The Musical

Stage set for Matilda.

If you thought it was impossible to get tickets to Hamilton in London, you would be right.  However, we didn't go wrong by seeing the musical version of Roald Dahl's Matilda. In fact, we went very right, because it was fantastic. Dahl is a local boy here,  (best known for Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory) and he wrote a delightful book about an extraordinary little girl ignored by her wretched parents, the Wormwoods.  "Daddy," says Matilda, "do you think you could buy me a book?" Her dad replies, "What's wrong with the telly, for heaven's sake? You're getting spoiled, my girl!"

While in America, we'd just say something like "pick up your tickets an hour before the show," the British say it so much more beautifully: "Tickets can be organised for collection on the day of the performance, during the hour before the show."  So we organised the collection of our tickets at about 19:00, with plenty of time to buy a snack and drinks and wedge into the cozy seats at this 1930s theater.  For such a big production, the theater is quite small.  It was also filled with very excited youngsters who got to stay up late for this evening performance.