"Roald Dahl's Matilda The Musical" Soundtrack Lyrics

"Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical (Soundtrack from the Netflix Film)" – Album Guide to Tracks and Key Scenes

Overview

How do you stage a rebellion that fits in a child’s pocket? Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical (2022) answers with pop-bright hooks and precision rhythm — arrival → adaptation → rebellion → collapse — until a classroom becomes a dance floor and fear loses the beat. The film leans into a two-engine design: songs by Tim Minchin push character and wit; score by Christopher Nightingale stitches chapters and fables together.

The album (22 tracks) blends freshly recorded numbers from the hit stage show — “Miracle,” “Naughty,” “School Song,” “The Hammer,” “Bruce,” “When I Grow Up,” “Quiet,” “My House,” “The Smell of Rebellion,” “Revolting Children” — with nine pieces of underscore to carry the “Acrobat and Escapologist” fairy-tale thread and Trunchbull’s ominous machinery. A brand-new closer, “Still Holding My Hand,” gives the film a curtain-call feeling in a medium that doesn’t have one.

Distinctive twist: the movie plays bigger with bodies and space. Ensemble vocals punch like percussion, children run the meter, and the orchestra glues diverse styles into one voice — a kinetic lesson plan.

Genres & themes by phase: cheeky music-hall pop — mischief; rock & chant — solidarity; lullaby-folk — vulnerability; percussive underscore — pressure; gospel-tinged finale — release.

How It Was Made

Who did what. Music & lyrics: Tim Minchin. Score/orchestrations: Christopher Nightingale. Music supervision: (film) Becky Bentham. Songs and score were recorded at AIR Studios with orchestral pickups at Abbey Road before a Milan/Netflix/Sony Masterworks rollout — a neat pipeline from stage pedigree to screen scale.

Why a new finale? Films don’t have curtain calls, so the team wrote “Still Holding My Hand” to gather threads and let Miss Honey and Matilda sing the story home. The soundtrack released digitally on November 18, 2022, followed by CD in December; “Revolting Children” was previewed as a single ahead of the album.

Tracks & Scenes

“Miracle” — Company
Where it plays: Prologue roll-call of “gifted” children and oblivious parents; Matilda’s birth is framed as an inconvenience. Big, bouncy, non-diegetic opener.
Why it matters: Sets the satirical lens — sugar-rush harmony hiding a tart lyric.

“Naughty” — Matilda (Alisha Weir)
Where it plays: Library plotting and bedroom pranks; Matilda decides stories fix what grown-ups won’t. Mid-early montage with sly percussion.
Why it matters: The manifesto: push back, but do it with style.

“School Song” — Company
Where it plays: Corridor gauntlet for new arrivals; older kids “spell” the alphabet into the set as blocks slam into place.
Why it matters: A masterclass in staging-as-rhythm — the acrostic becomes architecture.

“The Hammer” — Miss Trunchbull (Emma Thompson)
Where it plays: Assembly-intro and gym menace; military bark, drum cadences, and a discus/hammer refrain.
Why it matters: Character theme as PE drill — funny and frightening.

“Bruce” — Company
Where it plays: The cake trial in the hall; choir of kids turns a punishment into a rally.
Why it matters: The first big taste of collective defiance.

“When I Grow Up” — Company
Where it plays: Swing-set dream across playground and sky; the camera floats, the melody walks.
Why it matters: The film’s heart — wonder, ache, and momentum.

“I’m Here” — Matilda
Where it plays: The Escapologist/Acrobat tale folds into real life; a quiet assertion set against looming danger.
Why it matters: A soft answer to loud adults — spine, not volume.

“The Smell of Rebellion” — Trunchbull & Company
Where it plays: PE horror-show; drills march, tyres flip, whistles stab.
Why it matters: Comic terror with brass teeth.

“Quiet” — Matilda
Where it plays: The world finally hushes; words fall away and telekinesis finds its shape.
Why it matters: Interior power ballad — stillness as a superpower.

“My House” — Miss Honey (Lashana Lynch)
Where it plays: Cottage confession with tea and truth; strings cradle a gentle, open-throat vocal.
Why it matters: Backstory that loves without pleading — Miss Honey’s courage in a key change.

“Revolting Children” — Company
Where it plays: The revolt lands: desks slide, feet drum, and the hall becomes a rally.
Why it matters: Catharsis with choreo you can count out loud.

“Still Holding My Hand” — Miss Honey & Matilda
Where it plays: New-family coda; sunlight, community, and a melody that ties bows.
Why it matters: Film-language “curtain call” — warmth without syrup.

Notes & Trivia

• The 22-track album mixes 13 vocal numbers with nine pieces of Nightingale’s underscore.
• “Still Holding My Hand” was written for the film to replace a curtain call — cinema needs a musical goodbye.
• One planned set-piece, “Loud,” was shot for months but dropped from the final cut; the movie still carries 12 of the stage show’s 16 songs.
• Sessions took place at AIR Studios with orchestral pickups at Abbey Road; Rupert Coulson handled recording/mix.
• Label rollout combined Netflix Music/Sony Masterworks (with Milan Records handling the soundtrack campaign).

Music–Story Links

“Miracle” satirizes adult blindness so “Naughty” can flip the frame: rule-breaking as ethics. “School Song” literalizes fear — the alphabet becomes a wall — and “The Hammer” weaponizes PE language into tyranny. “When I Grow Up” answers with weightless hope; “My House” grounds that hope in adult tenderness. By “Revolting Children,” the kids don’t just sing about agency — the arrangement gives it to them, section by section. The new finale hands the last word to chosen family.

Reception & Quotes

Critics embraced the film’s big-hearted staging and the album’s polish; audiences turned one sequence into a dance contagion. That gym-hall explosion? It ate TikTok.

“A magical movie with expertly staged musical numbers.” — early review summary

“The choreography went viral for a reason — precision with play.” — feature on the dance phenomenon

Interesting Facts

• “Revolting Children” was preview-released before the album proper to prime the campaign.
• The underscore cues (“The Acrobat and the Escapologist,” “Telekinesis,” “Magnus Returns”) thread Matilda’s invented tale into the real one.
• The UK saw a theatrical release on November 25, 2022; the film landed on Netflix worldwide at Christmas.
• Viral choreography features Hortensia (Meesha Garbett) front and center — a breakout within a breakout.
• The soundtrack peaked on several territories’ album charts and remains an all-ages streaming staple.

Technical Info

• Title: Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical — Soundtrack from the Netflix Film
• Year: 2022
• Type: Film musical — original songs + underscore
• Songs: Tim Minchin
• Score/Orchestrations: Christopher Nightingale
• Key placements (select): “Miracle”; “Naughty”; “School Song”; “The Hammer”; “Bruce”; “When I Grow Up”; “I’m Here”; “The Smell of Rebellion”; “Quiet”; “My House”; “Revolting Children”; “Still Holding My Hand”.
• Recording: AIR Studios; orchestral pickups at Abbey Road
• Label/Release: Digital 18 Nov 2022; CD 9 Dec 2022 — Netflix Music/Sony Masterworks (Milan Records)
• Availability: Streaming and CD; official playlists mirror the full album

Questions & Answers

What’s new in the film’s soundtrack compared to the stage show?

A newly written end-credits number, “Still Holding My Hand,” lets the film wrap emotionally without a curtain call.

Are all stage songs in the movie?

No. Twelve of the sixteen stage numbers are used; the large “Loud” sequence was filmed but cut.

Who composed the instrumental score?

Christopher Nightingale — also the stage production’s orchestrator/music supervisor — wrote the underscore cues.

Where were the sessions recorded?

At AIR Studios with additional orchestral pickups at Abbey Road, then mixed for the album release.

Is there an official album?

Yes — a 22-track set titled Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical (Soundtrack from the Netflix Film), available on streaming and CD.

Canonical Entities & Relations

Sources: Official trailer and album pages; soundtrack release notes; song-by-song press list; interview/feature coverage on the finale and viral choreography.

November, 19th 2025