Award Winner to Reprise Role as Schoolmistress in \'Matilda the Musical\'

Bertie Carvel.

The hit London musical “Matilda” may be about the misfortunes and moxie of one little girl, but it is her chief persecutor â€" the sociopathic schoolmistress Miss Trunchbull, known for throwing children by their pigtails â€" who really steals the show. The British actor Bertie Carvel won a best actor Olivier Award (the equivalent of a Tony) this year for his cross-dressing performance as Miss Trunchbull, and he will reprise the role in this season's highly anticipated Broadway run of “Matilda the Musical,” the producers announced on Thursday.

It will be Mr. Carvel's Broadway debut; he is an acclaimed theater actor in England, having earned a best actor Olivier nomination previ ously for the musical “Parade” in 2008. Ben Brantley of The New York Times, in his review of “Matilda” in London this year, praised Mr. Carvel for a “wonderfully unwinking” performance.

“Matilda” is scheduled to begin preview performances at the Shubert Theater on March 4, 2013, and open on April 11. Based on the 1988 children's novel by Roald Dahl, the musical is directed by Tony winner Matthew Warchus (“God of Carnage”). The show has a book by British writer Dennis Kelly and music and lyrics by Tim Minchin, the Australian musician and comedian.