The hit musical 'Matilda' opens in Tampa

David Abeles has been doing Broadway in recent years. He originated the role of Eamon in "Once" on Broadway and played Jerry Lee Lewis in "Million Dollar Quartet." He wasn't planning on doing road shows again, but then he got the chance to appear in the first U.S. tour of "Matilda." "Matilda" is a Tony Award-winning hit musical, based on a 1988 Roald Dahl novel. It will stop in Tampa's Straz Center for the Performing Arts for eight performances beginning Tuesday. Abeles plays Miss Trunchbull, the child-hating head mistress of the title character's hellish school. Miss Trunchbull is a former Olympic hammer-throw champion, and the role is designed to be played by a man.

"I couldn't turn down this part," Abeles said.

This will be the first chance Tampa Bay area audiences have to experience "Matilda," but anyone who pays attention to musical theater knows its reputation. In 2012, its London production was nominated in every single category of the Olivier Awards, and it won seven -- more than any other show ever has. It opened on Broadway the next year, earned ebullient reviews and 13 Tony nominations. It won five Tony Awards, including Best Book of a Musical and an Excellence in Theatre Awards for the four young actresses who rotated in the title role. It's still showing on Broadway, with a run that's closing in on three years.

But Abeles himself may already be familiar to local audiences. He spent six months in Sarasota in a Florida Studio Theatre show called "The Piano Men."

"Matilda," he said, is about children, but not exclusively for children. "The book is, I suppose, a children's book, in the way that all of Roald Dahl's books are," he said. "But we have a lot of levels in this show. It isn't saccharine. It doesn't talk down to the audience."

It's a true family show, he said, not a children's show. It's fanciful enough for kids, but meaningful and literate enough for adults, kind of in the same ways that "Alice in Wonderland" is.

The story, which was also made into a non-musical movie directed by Danny DeVito, involves a brilliant 5-year-old girl from an abusive home. Her family resents her intellectual superiority and treats her cruelly so Matilda uses books, imagination and practical jokes to cope.

The book came out in 1988 and is widely considered a classic of fiction for young readers.

The musical, Abeles said, captures the elements that have made the book a classic, and enhances the story with great songs by Tim Minchin, a British-Australian comedian who uses music in his act.

"The music's great," Abeles said. "So catchy, you will absolutely walk out humming the tunes. And you're probably going to want to buy the cast recording."

Details: Feb. 23-28, Morsani Hall at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts, 1010 N. MacInnes Place, Tampa. Show times: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 2 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday. Tickets: $45-130 plus service charge. Information: 813-229-7827, strazcenter.org.

Marty Clear, features writer/columnist, can be reached at 941-708-7919. Follow twitter.com/martinclear.

This story was originally published February 19, 2016 at 5:18 PM with the headline "The hit musical 'Matilda' opens in Tampa ."