‘Matilda’ composer Tim Minchin talks Trudeau, ‘Groundhog Day’ musical

TORONTO – Outspoken Australian satirist Tim Minchin touched on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the upcoming “Groundhog Day” stage show as he stopped in Toronto to help unveil the Canadian cast for the smash “Matilda the Musical.”

The comic and composer, a self-professed “science nerd” who believes in “humanist ideals” and “science-based government,” gushed about Trudeau during Tuesday’s splashy Mirvish Productions presentation.

“He’s just the liberal dream, isn’t he?” Minchin said in an interview. “And people like me believe that you can govern like that, so he better not screw it up.”

Minchin did the music and lyrics for “Matilda,” which is based on the beloved Roald Dahl novel about a telekinetic bookworm who remains strong amid mistreatment at home and school.

Dennis Kelly penned the stage adaptation, which originated in England and won four Tony Awards on Broadway.

Jaime MacLean of Vancouver and Toronto’s Hannah Levinson and Jenna Weir will share the role of Matilda in the Toronto production, which will begin performances at the Ed Mirvish Theatre on July 5.

Paula Brancati, Dan Chameroy, Keisha T. Fraser, Brandon McGibbon and Darcy Stewart are among the other cast members in the Toronto version.

Minchin has been making headlines in his home country recently for his song “Come Home (Cardinal Pell).” The lyrics call for Cardinal George Pell, Pope Francis’s top financial adviser, to return to Australia to face the royal commission into sexual abuse.

It’s “had a huge political impact, like nothing I’ve ever seen or done before, and it scared me,” he said.

“But my song helped to raise a quarter million dollars for sexual abuse survivors, so I’m proud of that, but at the same time I had to deal with people calling me a bigot,” he added.

“You can imagine why sometimes you go, ‘I’m just going to write my own little musicals and just stay quiet now.'”

Minchin is also doing the music and lyrics for the “Groundhog Day” musical, which is set to begin rehearsals in London on Monday.

Matthew Warchus is directing and Danny Rubin is doing the book, based on his 1993 film starring Bill Murray as a TV weatherman who finds himself caught in a time loop, repeating Groundhog Day over and over. Andy Karl will star.

Minchin said it’s darker than the movie and taps further into the characters’ emotional states.

“I’m ready and I’m scared,” he confessed, “because when you spend three years and a lot of your own money doing something, and when you’ve had something like ‘Matilda,’ I desperately want to reclaim my innocence but I can’t.

“The expectations of this piece are higher than they were with ‘Matilda’ and I want so badly for it to go well. But it doesn’t have to be as much a commercial success. I just want it to function as an authentic piece of theatre. I really like it. I’m excited by it.”