Tim Minchin Puts Emotion on Broadway. Just Don’t Call Him Sentimental.
Indeed, Mr. Minchin always keeps an eye on the thin line between irony (which he isn’t particularly keen on) and satire (which he loves). What helped him understand Phil was an unlikely commonality.
“He learns to be kind and generous and altruistic without expectation of reward,” said Mr. Minchin, an outspoken atheist. “Anything that talks about the meaning of life without the cop-out is attractive to me.”
There’s no such thing as a perfect lyric but there is a sense that you haven’t wasted a syllable; the pursuit of a verse or a chorus that doesn’t waste anything feels exact in a way to me.
Tim Minchin is known for his satirical, sometimes profane music, his un-wavering skepticism and atheism, and for writing one of the most popular children’s musicals currently playing. Matt Galloway spoke with him this morning.
This is what you are reacting to in that song,” Minchin said. “You have a slight sadness when you are a grown-up. You’ve stopped climbing trees and you do not know when that happened. Maybe you’ve already climbed your last tree. You feel a loss of innocence, but you are also facing the truth that you are not the grown-up you thought you would be as a child. You’ve lost your childhood, but you’re actually still a child. And you never got your super powers.
Tim Minchin, on “When I Grow Up” from Matilda : One man’s obsession with one song from ‘Matilda
