Matilda the Musical is 'thinned out" for Americans As the cast of Matilda the Musical prepare for their first night on Broadway, last-minute changes are having to be made to the West End hit. Mandrake can disclose that some of the lyrics in the show, which is based on the children's novel by Roald Dahl, are being altered so that they can be understood by American audiences. "It's being changed a little," admits Tim Minchin, who wrote the words and music. There are a few lyrics that they're just not hearing because they're so dense and require thinning out. Minchin, a stand-up comedian, says the changes are being made as preview audiences in New York watch the show. "Matilda opened last Monday into previews and you do tend to use preview time to sort out bugs before we open to glitz and nonsense in April," he adds at the South Bank Sky Arts Awards at the Dorchester hotel in London. The girls cast as Matilda in the Broadway production are all American, but the decision has been made that they will keep the English accent of the West End version. British voices have proved notoriously problematic for American audiences in the past, with some films given subtitles. Last year, when the pop singer Nadine Coyle, who is from Northern Ireland, was a guest judge on America's Next Top Model, subtitles appeared across the screen. However, Billy Elliot the Musical was a success on Broadway despite concerns that American theatregoers would not understand the cultural specifics or the accents of a show set in and around Durham during the Thatcher-era Eighties.