Just a few days after its Olivier Award record of seven wins was equalled by the National Theatre's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, the Royal Shakespeare Company's Broadway transfer of Matilda The Musical has been given 12 nominations, second only to Kinky Boots with 13.
The production opened on 11 April after just over a month of previews at the Shubert Theatre with Bertie Carvel recreating his award-winning role of Miss Trunchbull, the sadistic headmistress and Lauren Ward also repeating her role as nice teacher Miss Honey. Originally a Christmas show in Stratford from the RSC in 2010-11, it transferred to the Cambridge Theatre in London's West End in November 2011.
Announced on 30 April, the Tony nominations for what many believed to be a peculiarly British show and novel were for Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical (Dennis Kelly), Best Original Score (Tim Minchin), Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical (Bertie Carvel), Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical (Gabriel Ebert), Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical (Lauren Ward), Best Direction of a Musical (Matthew Warchus), Best Choreography (Peter Darling), Best Orchestrations (Chris Nightingale), Best Scenic Design of a Musical (Rob Howell), Best Costume Design of a Musical (Rob Howell) and Best Lighting Design of a Musical (Hugh Vanstone).
The production was just pipped to the top spot by Kinky Boots with a book by Harvey Fierstein and songs by 80s pop star Cyndi Lauper.
On the West End, Matilda is currently booking at the Cambridge Theatre until May 2014.