Netflix’s Matilda the Musical ends film with new song that is ‘a joyful release’, bringing to the screen a dream that could not be realised onstage
- ‘Still Holding My Hand’, which has Matilda and Miss Honey singing to each other, was added at the expense of stage show favourites like ‘Loud’ and ‘Telly’
- The people behind the stage and film productions explain their decision-making process and why, of all the animals, there is a giraffe in one particular scene
The final four minutes of Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical are, in a way, both a new ending and a new beginning. Miss Trunchbull is no longer the school headmistress; the Wormwoods are no longer Matilda’s parents.
The song – which did not even exist until after filming began – and accompanying montage bring to the screen a dream that the creative team could not realise onstage.
The stage musical closes with a broad, comedic section, and “ends with two people holding hands and then a cartwheel, which is a beautiful, simple gesture, but you don’t get to see past the moment where they come together,” said Dennis Kelly, writer of both the stage and screen versions.
“We did try and end the film in different ways, but what this moment needed was a song, a joyful release for this little family created by these two people.”
Titled “Still Holding My Hand”, the new song has Matilda and Miss Honey singing about how each thought their unfortunate fates were sealed but, instead, they are delighted to discover they have been there for each other all along.