Review of Madagascar: The Musical at Royal & Derngate (Derngate), Northampton

The 2005 Dreamworks film Madagascar introduced us to a menagerie of colourful anthropomorphic animal characters shipped off to Africa after a very happy life in Central Park Zoo. This simple concept has managed to spawn three further franchise films and a musical of the same name, first performed in 2018.

Designed very much for a younger audience, Madagascar the Musical lays everything on stage with broad strokes of colour and simple storytelling and from the perspective of that audience, it works really well, keeping the majority of its audience enthralled for its relatively brief one-hour 40 minutes, which includes the interval.

The show is filled with energy from its performers, delivering everything in a manner suited to the animated background of the story and with a children's TV feeling. Alex the lion played by Joseph Hewlett is the friendliest lion you could imagine, happily getting on in the zoo with what would be his steak in the wild. Alex has a wonderful relationship with his friend Marty the zebra played by Francisco Gomes and the two performers share a couple of rather delightful songs together, which are well performed.

Also, a brilliant singing performance comes from Jarnéia Richard-Noel as friendly and full of fun hippopotamus Gloria, and alongside a great comic turn by Joshua Oakes-Rogers as Melman the giraffe completes the four main adventurous characters.

The ensemble provides all but one more of the characters and they are excellently skilled in bringing to life Max Humphries and Emma Brunton's brilliant puppets. Of the ensemble cast characters, I suspect many will enjoy the brilliant penguins and their devilish plans of escape.

Finally from the cast, and for those of a certain demographic, the most famous performer in the show, is Karim Zeroual. Famous for CBBC and Strictly Come Dancing, here he is in the role of King Julien, and he brings a performance which thrills the audience and brings to life perhaps the best musical number, familiar to most as well, I Like to Move It.

The staging is excellent, with a brilliantly constructed set from Tom Rogers, bringing the comic versions of Central Park Zoo and the land of Madagascar to life. The staging of the ship and the crates onboard is also excellently done. Unfortunately, the usual sound issues for a musical do occur with quite a lot of dialogue and lyrics lost to the music, particularly with a couple of the male performances early on.

This isn't a show that will win countless awards, but one that might inspire theatregoers of the future, much like a pantomime would. There is even a moment when Alex appears behind Marty when you can almost feel the young audience members itching to cry "he's behind you". So, from the perspective of creating a future for theatre, Madagascar the Musical is first-rate entertainment.

Lightweight family entertainment which is full of colour and energy.
⭐⭐⭐⭐

Performance reviewed: Thursday 18th July 2024 at the Royal & Derngate (Derngate), Northampton.

Madagascar: The Musical is on stage at Royal & Derngate until Sunday 21st July 2024 before continuing its tour.

For further details about the Royal & Derngate and to book tickets see their website at http://www.royalandderngate.co.uk

Photos: Phil Tragen

Review of Murder She Didn't Write at Royal & Derngate (Royal), Northampton

Murder She Didn't Write , stopping off for a four-day run at Royal & Derngate on a lengthy UK tour, treads the now well-worn path of an improvisational evening of theatre entertainment. Unsurprisingly, from the title, this show from Degrees of Error's takes a murder mystery as its inspiration, with the story influenced by ideas from the audience each evening. Due to this, Murder She Didn't Write and a review are very much an individual affair. What I saw in my evening at the theatre will differ significantly from what the audience will see the following evening; however, the fine performers will remain. The touring cast, in no particular order, is Lizzy Skrzypiec, Rachael Procter-Lane, Peter Baker, Caitlin Campbell, Stephen Clements, Douglas Walker, Harry Allmark, Rosalind Beeson, Sylvia Bishop, Emily Brady, Alice Lamb, Sara Garrard, Peta Maurice and Matthew Whittle. For my performance, Skrzypiec, Procter-Lane, Baker, Walker, Bishop, and Clements were on stage alongsid...

Review of Immune by R&D Youth Theatre at Royal & Derngate (Royal), Northampton

The cover note for the script of Oladipo Agboluaje's Immune describes it as "a challenging science fiction play with a large cast", and the word challenging in this case is not a lie. This is a fast paced, multi-cast changing script which leaves little room for error for its young cast in the performance. If the script isn't enough to handle for the young performers, director Christopher Elmer-Gorry and designer Carl Davies have made the situation even more complex for the actors with the set and stage work. Having to manhandle great panels on wheels and a huge cube, which also splits in two occasionally, during scene changes requires skill, coordination and cooperation of a high level. As if all this is not enough, the actual story is epic enough for the relatively small stage of the Royal. Attempting to form an apocalyptic world (albeit only happening in Plymouth) offers challenges in itself, but Agboluaje's script does that in a sort of apocalypse in the teac...

Review of The Killing Of Sister George at The Playhouse Theatre, Northampton

The Playhouse Theatre's The Killing Of Sister George offers to me the most unique review challenge yet as I have followed the creation process unlike any other, having had the privilege to watch a number of rehearsals. Seeing it from relatively early days of book in hand, to book down and to the penultimate dress rehearsal, I have seen it at at some very dramatic times. No one will disagree either that the final time I saw it, just one rehearsal away from going live in front of a paying audience, there was much still to refine. This review is of the fourth night and I will disregard as best as possible what I saw during rehearsals (with one very important exception). Written in 1964 by Frank Marcus, Sister George was an exceptionally controversial play at its time with its suggestions that its lead characters are in a lesbian relationship, still illegal at the time. The play itself is subtle in its telling, however the 1968 film is much more explicit, capitalising no doubt from t...

A Small Mind At The Theatre

Search This Blog