Matilda: First Australian Cast Announcements

The Royal Shakespeare Company, Louise Withers, Michael Coppel & Michael Watt today (March 19, 2015) announced four of the principal cast for the Australian Premiere Season of Matilda The Musical, which commences performances from July 28 in Sydney.

They are (in alphabetical order), Marika Aubrey (Mrs Wormwood), Daniel Frederiksen (Mr Wormwood), Elise McCann (Miss Honey) and James Millar (Miss Trunchbull).

The complete Australian Cast, including the four young actresses sharing the role of Matilda, will be announced next month.

The winner of over 50 international awards, including 12 for Best Musical, Matilda The Musical will make its Australian Premiere at Sydney Lyric Theatre from July 28, with tickets currently on sale from Ticketmaster for performances through to October 25.

Matilda The Musical is based on the beloved novel by best-selling author Roald Dahl (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Fantastic Mr. Fox). It is the story of an extraordinary little girl who armed with a vivid imagination and a sharp mind, dares to take a stand and change her own destiny.

Having proven an enormous success in London’s West End and on Broadway, where productions continue to play to packed houses and capture the imagination of young and old alike, Matilda The Musical is the most-anticipated theatrical event of 2015.

Matilda The Musical is directed by Tony Award® winner Matthew Warchus (God of Carnage), who helms this production with a book by Tony Award®-winning playwright Dennis Kelly and music and lyrics by Australian Tim Minchin.

The production has sets and costumes by Tony Award® winner Rob Howell, with choreography by Tony Award® winner Peter Darling (Billy Elliot), orchestrations, additional music and musical supervision by Christopher Nightingale, lighting by Tony Award® winner Hugh Vanstone, and sound by Simon Baker.

Matilda The Musical was commissioned by the RSC and played to sold-out audiences at the Courtyard Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon for twelve weeks from November 2010 to January 2011. It transferred to London’s West End on Tuesday 25 October 2011 where it opened to rave reviews.

The New York production of Matilda The Musical opened on 11 April 2013 at Broadway’s Shubert Theatre to rapturous reviews and has been celebrated on 10 “Top Ten” lists for 2013, including TIME Magazine’s #1 Show of the Year.

Sweeping the board at the 2012 Laurence Olivier Awards, winning a record-breaking seven awards, Matilda The Musical has gone on to take Broadway by storm, winning four Tony Awards® and a Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theater for each of the four girls sharing the title role.

Matilda The Musical will be produced in Australia by the Royal Shakespeare Company, Louise Withers, Michael Coppel & Michael Watt with André Ptaszynski and Denise Wood as Executive Producers.

The Australian premiere season of Matilda The Musical is proudly supported by the NSW Government through its tourism and major events agency Destination NSW.

MATILDA THE MUSICAL

SYDNEY LYRIC THEATRE FROM 28 JULY 2015

TICKETS NOW ON SALE FOR PERFORMANCES THROUGH TO OCTOBER 25

Book at Ticketmaster 1300 795 267 www.ticketmaster.com.au

Groups 20+ call 02 8240 2290 or groups@ticketmaster.com.au

In person at the Lyric Box Office or any Ticketmaster outlet.

Tickets: $50-$150*

*Transaction fees may apply

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BIOGRAPHIES (in alphabetical order)

Marika Aubrey – Mrs Wormwood

Graduate of Theatre Nepean Acting Program and BBM Drama Award recipient, Marika’s credits span across television, film, cabaret and theatre. Screen credits include roles in Channel 7’s All Saints, Southern Star’s Spirited, and feature film Feed alongside Jack Thompson and Alex O’Loughlin.

Cabaret credits and achievements include the Showcase Award in the annual Sydney Cabaret Showcase and being named Best Cabaret Performer by Aussie Theatre for her critically acclaimed solo show CAUTION: Aggressive Birds in 2009. Marika has toured her works to sold-out audiences at Adelaide Cabaret Festival, Slide Cabaret Festival and across Australia. Her performances in Redhead and The First Draft of Something New were nominated for GLUG Awards. Marika’s musical theatre credits include The Last Five Years, nominated for Best Musical at the Sydney Theatre Awards, South Pacific, critically acclaimed Miracle City and most recently Aldonza in Squabbalogic’s Man Of La Mancha.

Marika can be heard on the original Australian cast recording of Miracle City, due for release April 2015, as well as the Generation Why? album (with Hayden Tee), has recorded ‘Meadowlark’ on the second Showqueen
Sessions Live CD and her solo release Redhead.

Daniel Frederiksen – Mr Wormwood

Logie and AFI nominated Daniel Frederiksen has had an extensive career across film, television and theatre.After studying at NIDA, he first achieved recognition in the television series Blue Heelers, followed by a series regular role in Stingers, for which he was nominated for a Logie Award for Best New Talent. Other TV credits include roles in telemovie Underground, Underbelly 6 “ Squizzy Taylor”, Redfern Now, and most recently in the ABC’s Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries.

Daniel won an AFI nomination for Best Actor in a Television Drama for Bastard Boys.
His feature film roles include a lead role in Ten Empty, Closed for Winter & the US telemovie Mermaids, as well as playing opposite Nicolas Cage in the action movie Ghost Rider. Other film credits include Summer Coda and Vessell. Some of his stage performances include After Miss Julie, The Pain & The Itch, Leaves of Glass, Fat Boy, Ruben Guthrie, Robot vs. Art and Julius Caesar (Bell Shakespeare Company), The Good Person of Szechuan (Malthouse and The National Theatre of China co-production) and in Melbourne Theatre Company productions of Cheech, Don Juan in Soho, Rockabye, Betty Shaw and Dead Man’s Cell Phone.
Daniel is a founding member of Red Stitch, Melbourne’s top independent theatre company.

Elise McCann – Miss Honey

Elise studied Music Theatre at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), graduating in 2003. Her professional theatrical debut was in the Australian revival of Fiddler on the Roof alongside Topol.

Other early theatrical credits include Camelot, My Fair Lady, Little Women and as Ali in the 10th Anniversary Australian Tour of MAMMA MIA!

In 2010, Elise appeared in the World Premiere Production of Doctor Zhivago, followed by appearances in On the Twentieth Century, Side by Side by Sondheim, the new work 12 Songs to Save Your Life and the Australian tour of the Lincoln Center Theater production of South Pacific.
Recent credits include Cordelia in Falsettos, Florinda in the Victorian Opera’s production of Into the Woods, It’s A Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s Superman! and as Lucille Ball in her one-woman show, Everybody Loves Lucy, which has been touring Australia since its premiere season in early 2014.

Elise is currently filming Peter Allen – Not The Boy Next Door and will appear as Allen’s sister Lynne Woolnough in this miniseries, scheduled for broadcast later this year.

James Millar – Miss Trunchbull

James is a graduate of WAAPA. His performance credits include the Australian premiere of Grey Gardens for The Production Company, Noël and Gertie for Christine Dunstan Productions, Oklahoma! for The Production Company, Snugglepot and Cuddlepie for Company B Belvoir, Eureka for the Melbourne International Arts Festival, The Little Dog Laughed for the Ensemble Theatre, the Sydney and Melbourne seasons of Gutenberg! The Musical! for which he was nominated for both a Sydney Theatre Award and Green Room Award, Company, Jerry Springer: The Opera for the Sydney Opera House and Love Bites, which enjoyed two seasons in Sydney and in Perth. In 2006 James won the Green Room Award for Best Supporting Actor in the role of Jud Fry in Oklahoma! That same year he was selected to perform in Cardiff for BBC Radio 2's Voice of Musical Theatre.

Also an accomplished writer, James penned the book and lyrics for The Hatpin, which played seasons in Sydney and New York in 2008 and London in 2014, and Lovebites: A Song Cycle, both of which were nominated for Sydney Theatre Awards in 2009. In 2011 he was commissioned to write the book and lyrics for A Little Touch of Chaos, which won The VCA New Works grant in 2014.

In London, James performed in Chess, The Ring Cycle at The Royal Opera House and is a prolific audiobook narrator.

Images from The Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Roald Dahl's Matilda The Musical. Photo by Manuel Harlan.