REVIEW: Madagascar the Musical
Leicester’s Haymarket Theatre has been invaded by an army of exotic creatures! Yes, Madagascar the Musical is enjoying an extremely popular run at the theatre. I introduced you to the show last week, and I got the chance to see it for myself on opening night.
Now I’ll not profess to be any expert in the Madagascar series by Dreamworks, so I took a willing friend and her resident tiny experts along to the theatre with me. I valued their unique reviewers eye in the creation of this post. We were greeted with a buzzing atmosphere, with excited children in the lobby as far as the eye could see.
On with the show!
And they were right to be excited! From the moment the curtain went up the show was a never-ending stream of frenetic energy! Of course, the remarkable costumes were quite a thing to behold, but I also really liked how the set had an almost cartoon-like feel to it. This really made it true to its parent franchise and evidently meant that the children in the audience bought in to the show straight away.
The show scampered along with some very catchy musical number. My favourite was of course the quite unexpected Ode to Steak – whose sentiments I couldn’t disagree with. However, the show was clearly stolen by the ankle biters’ favourite, King Julien. This slightly scheming ring tailed lemur’s theme song is a blast from the past, a reworking of Reel to Reel’s 1994 smash “I like to move it.” This had much of the audience quite literally dancing in the aisles by the end of the show.
I like to move it, move it!
I can’t fault this as a family show. The action was fast paced, with slick choreography and pleasing staging transitions. The actors were all truly excellent in their performances and the added effect of the costume really added to the show, rather than feeling gimmicky. This was particularly true of the skilled use of puppetry throughout the performance. I think it’s probably safe to say that I, like most people, enjoyed the performance of the penguins above pretty much anything else. In retrospect it’s pretty easy to see why they got their own film.
But don’t take my word for it. I asked my skilled assistants for their full and frank review.
5 stars!
100% 5 stars!
I enjoyed it so much I gave myself hiccups!
Expert reviewers and Madagascar lovers
I may be paraphrasing slightly on the last review there, but that is certainly what happened! So what are you waiting for – you have two more chances to enjoy this show while it is in Leicester.
Book your tickets for tonight and tomorrow via the Leicester Haymarket Theatre website.
