

Met Tim after an event at the RSC in Stratford. It wasn't one of his usual comedy gigs, but more of an "In Conversation With Tim Minchin" type thing, where he discussed how he approached writing the music for Matilda, played bits of it (opening with "Naughty" and finishing with "When I Grow Up", as well as bits from "Miracle", "Smell of Rebellion" and "Bruce"), some of his own stuff ("Prejudice", "Lullaby", "Beauty") and chatted, a lot. He covered pieces from the initial creation (chord progressions, use of semi tones etc... all that geeky stuff) right up to verses they cut out and whole songs that never got in. He even confessed to stealing... from himself. One of the songs is a reworking of the lullaby he sang his daughter (called "I'm Here" in the show). He was rather jet lagged and unplanned and as is usual with his stuff, this made it all the more brilliant. Like cracking his head open and watching all this amazing stuff fall out. He did a Q&A after and all through the show kept asking one guy in the audience the time... but he still ran 30mins late (asking the house staff "How annoying is it that I'm still here? Can I keep going?")
Matilda is ending soon, and is fully booked anyway, but is likely to transfer to the West End eventually, as well as get a cast recording. I urge you to go see it!