Matilda the musical Miss Honey is weaker (but that's a good thing)

The difference between Miss Honey's roles in the 1996 film and the 2022 musical makes her appear weaker in the latter, but it's for the best.

The musical "Matilda" and "Matilda" are both based on the 1988 novel, but their portrayal of Miss Honey is very different. That's not necessarily a bad thing. As sweet as her name would have you believe, Miss Honey is sweet in both adaptations, a necessary reprieve for Matilda, who is surrounded by brutal adults. However, some key changes in the musical "Matilda" make Miss Honey a weaker character at the beginning of the film compared to Matilda, but it's a change for the better.

In 1996's Matilda, Miss Honey was played by Embeth Davidtz and in Matilda The Musical by Lashana Lynch. Both perform well, and their differences allow them to leave their mark on beloved book characters. When audiences meet Miss Honey in the musical and in the 1996 film, they seem to be at different stages in their lives about confidence and bravery. They've all had misfortune in their lives, and despite that, they've both tried to do good. Lynch's Miss Honey, however, mistook herself for pathetic, making her seem even more frail.

Matilda The Musical Shows Better Growth For Miss Honey

The musical is Based on Roald Dahl's book rather than the earlier film adaptation, but using the same source material, it's natural to question which is better: Matilda the Musical or Matilda 1996 . While the answer to this question may come down to personal taste, it's clear that for most of the film, the musical "Matilda" by making Miss Honey weaker, or at least making her believe she is weaker, Thus giving the character of Miss Honey much better room to grow. Miss Honey also experienced growth in the 1996 film, but nowhere near as much as she did in the 2022 musical adaptation.

In Matilda and the Musical, Miss Honey sees herself in young, brilliant Matilda, whose home life is as difficult as she was as a child. With her telepathic abilities, (interestingly came up with a Stephen King theory linking Carrie to Matilda) Matilda used her powers forever and was able to save Miss Harney and the students from Miss Trunchbull . Even more evident in Matilda The Musical, it wasn't just Matilda's powers that saved Miss Honey. By seeing herself in the brave, rebellious Matilda, she is inspired to become Stronger self. It is because of Miss Harney's weaknesses that she grows and overcomes them.

Why Giving Miss Honey A Backstory Helps Matilda The Musical

Dennis Kelly's play for Roald Dahl's musical "Matilda" included Miss Honey's backstory, which was described in the 1988 book or in the 1996 "Matilda" Neither appear in Matilda, who unraveled the stories and detailed them in two of Matilda's 13 songs. Like the book and the movie, Miss Honey is Miss Trunchbull's step-niece, but viewers in the musical learn more about her parents, an acrobat mother and runaway father. The musical also draws more on the relationship between the step-aunt and step-niece in the book, further interpreting Miss Honey's timid character.

In "Matilda", Miss Honey tells Matilda that she will be "free" when she moves into her cottage, which Matilda calls her "brave". In "Matilda the Musical," heartbreakingly, that's not the case. The deaths of her parents, not just her father, were indirectly or directly caused by Miss Trunchbull, who initially caused controversy as Emma Thompson. The principal also forced Miss Honey to sign a contract requiring her to pay back every penny Miss Trunchbull had spent on her. Growing up, she was forever saddled with a debt she couldn't get out of.

In the musical Matilda, Miss Honey tells Matilda, "Years of being bullied by [Miss Trunchbull] made me, um, miserable." This suggests that her supposed weakness is that Trump A direct result of Miss Chibble's horrific treatment, this was worse than Matilda in 1996. This added backstory allows for more growth for Miss Harney, which will only help improve her character and the Matilda musical.