Tim Minchin’s Roald Dahl inspired smash-hit will open at Melbourne’s Princess in March.

It’s conquered London’s West End, New York’s Broadway, and most recently it earned rave reviews (including five stars from Limelight’s online editor Maxim Boon) and sold out houses in Sydney. Now the “indestructible success” of Matilda the Musical is heading to Melbourne with the announcement that the hit production is to transfer to the Princess Theatre next year.

Having won 50 gongs world-wide, with a record breaking seven Olivier Awards, and even a healthy haul of Tonys to its credit, hype ahead of the Australian premiere of the hit musical by Aussie comedy icon Tim Minchin reached fever pitch, and the opening season at Sydney’s Lyric Theatre didn’t disappoint. Adapted from the much loved book by British author Roald Dahl, the high-energy show follows the adventures of Matilda, a fiercely intelligent young girl with incredible gifts who fights to overcome negligent parents and tyrannical school teachers.

The Royal Shakespeare Company’s production, featuring award-winning sets by Rob Howell, is fast becoming one of the most highly acclaimed new musicals to emerge in decades, and is already hotly tipped to do well at next year’s Helpmann Awards. However, Australia is currently in the middle of a deluge of Musical Theatre delights that might represent some competition, in no small part to the recent interest of producer Cameron Mackintosh in touring his stable of hit shows Down Under. Following a highly successful Australian tour of Les Misérables this year, Mackintosh is about to open his next show, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s global smash-hit Cats starring pop star Delta Goodrem, at the end of this month in Sydney.

Also coming up in December is the London Palladium’s lavish production of The Sound of Music, which opens the first leg of an Australian tour at Sydney’s Palace Theatre, and next year Opera Australia and John Frost will be presenting a new production of My Fair Lady, directed by one of the world’s most revered musical theatre stars, Dame Julie Andrews.

The Melbourne season of Matilda the Musical opens at Melbourne’s Princess Theatre March 13. Tickets on sale from October 20.