On World Book Day, Thursday 7 March at 7pm, cast members from the multi award-winning Matilda The Musical will present this year’s Official World Book Day Bedtime Story.
Audiences across the globe who tune into the Matilda The Musical Facebook channel at this time will be able to watch an exclusive performance from the cast including a reading from the beloved book by Malinda Parris as the show’s librarian Mrs Phelps and a performance of one of the show’s iconic musical numbers ‘Quiet’, featuring Isobel Hubble, one of the four actresses who share the role of Matilda. The bedtime story will also be streamed across partner feeds including those for Roald Dahl, World Book Day, Puffin and more.
In 2019, once again, the call to action to “Share a Story” lies at the heart of World Book Day – encouraging parents and carers to read and share stories with their children for just ten minutes each day. Reading for pleasure is the single biggest indicator of a child’s future success – eclipsing family circumstances, parents’ educational background or income (OECD). Yet the fact remains that children’s reading for pleasure is in long-term decline. According to the National Literacy Trust, if every child left primary school with the reading skills they need, the UK economy could increase by £30 billion by 2025.
As part of this year’s partnership between the Roald Dahl Story Company and World Book Day, children across the country will also find Roald Dahl’s most famous heroine, Matilda Wormwood, at the heart of the day’s celebrations as each of the 15 million book tokens given to every school child in the UK and Ireland is set to feature the literature-loving heroine.
Matilda The Musical has now been seen by more than 9 million people worldwide, having toured to over 72 cities and played more than 6600 performances in the West End, on Broadway and on tour across North America, the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. The London production is now booking to 24 May 2020.
Winner of over 91 international awards, including 23 for Best Musical, Matilda The Musical is also now touring the UK and Ireland, playing across the country until 17 August 2019.
