Hit West End show Matilda is coming to the North West

Matilda the musical, the adaptation of Roald Dahl's classic book, is coming to the North West next year.

The Royal Shakespeare Company’s tour of the multi award-winning musical will head to the Manchester Palace Theatre as part of its first ever UK tour.

The musical tells the story of a little schoolgirl with extraordinary powers who, armed with a vivid imagination and a sharp mind, dares to take a stand and change her own destiny.

Winner of 85 international awards, including 16 for Best Musical, the tour will open at Leicester Curve in March 2018 before a UK and Ireland tour, which arrives in Manchester for a six-week run from September 18 to November 24, 2018.

It has already played to a staggering 6.5m people worldwide.

Comedian and composer Tim Minchin wrote the award-winning music and lyrics for the musical and said: “I - like millions of others - feel like Dahl is in my blood, because I grew up with his books. So to have contributed to a piece of work that brings one of his most famous stories to life is one of my life’s great joys.

"I’m utterly thrilled that audiences in cities all across the UK and Ireland will now share and be part of Matilda’s story.”

Writer Dennis Kelly said: "I'm delighted that we get to take Matilda around the UK and to Ireland. We have some fantastic theatres in this country and in Ireland, supported by smart, engaged audiences and we can't wait to bring this crazy, messy, anarchic explosion of a show to them."

Now in its sixth year in London’s West End, Matilda The Musical is the longest running production at the Cambridge Theatre.

What are the Matilda tour dates?

The tour begins at Leicester Curve playing from 5 – 24 March 2018, followed by Dublin Bord Gais Energy Theatre (4 April – 28 April), Sunderland Empire (8 May – 2 June), Milton Keynes Theatre (5 June – 30 June), Birmingham Hippodrome (3 July – 8 September), Manchester Palace (18 September – 24 November) and Cardiff Wales Millennium Centre (4 December – 12 January 2019).

When do tickets go on sale for Matilda in Manchester?

Tickets for Leicester, Dublin, Sunderland, Milton Keynes, Manchester and Cardiff will go on sale to the public on 26 April following a priority booking period between 19 and 25 April. Tickets for Birmingham go on sale on 9 May, after a priority booking from 25 April to 8 May. Further dates and venues are to be announced in due course. The West End production continues at the Cambridge Theatre, currently booking until 17 December 2017.