The announcement was made on the closing night of the 2016 Adelaide Cabaret Festival, with the show to run before, during and after the 2017 Cabaret Festival.

“Timothy Minchin [who created the music and lyrics for Matilda] is one of Australia’s smartest cultural pot stirrers,” Cabaret Festival co-artistic director Eddie Perfect says.

“Always a wizard with words, the combination of his music and lyrics, [playwright] Dennis Kelly’s remarkable book, and the timeless genius of Roald Dahl has made Matilda one of the cleverest, most creative and heartwarming musicals of all time.”

Matilda the Musical, described by Minchin as “a great underdog story”, is based on British author Dahl’s book about a smart and precocious schoolgirl with a vivid imagination.

The musical, produced by Adelaidean Louise Withers and directed by Matthew Warchus, was commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company and has won multiple awards in London and New York.

It has also received a record 13 nominations in this year’s Helpmann Awards, including Best Original Score for Minchin.

Cabaret Festival co-artistic director Ali McGregor says seeing the musical in Sydney last year was “one of my most emotional and exhilarating theatrical experiences”.

Matilda the Musical is currently playing in Melbourne and will move to Brisbane, then Perth before coming to Adelaide in May.

The 2016 Adelaide Cabaret Festival closed on the weekend, with organisers saying it had exceeded its box office target with ticketed attendances of more than 42,000.

Click here to read The Daily Review’s review of Matilda the Musical in Melbourne.