Madagascar the Musical at Royal & Derngate Northampton Review

DISCLOSURE – THIS ITEM WAS GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW. ALL THOUGHTS AND OPINIONS ARE THE REVIEWER’S OWN.

Reviewed by Janine Rumble

Last night I had the pleasure of watching the highly entertaining, ‘crack-a-lackin’, Madagascar the Musical at Royal and Derngate Theatre, Northampton. What a brilliant musical it is! Whether you are a fan of the film or musicals, I highly recommend watching it, especially if you have children. It is an amazing show, just right for children to experience their first show at the theatre. I went with a three-year-old and a 16-month-old and they loved every second of it, clapping along to the songs and excitedly pointing to the different animals on stage. Throughout the show, I realised that I was constantly smiling. The show has a real feel-good factor to it and a lovely story about friendship.

The show follows true to the film, which is great, and is interspersed with superb musical numbers, which not only add an extra element to the story but will have you clapping along and tapping your feet.

The most amazing part of the show is the actor’s performances and their truly astounding costumes that leave you believing that they are the characters they are portraying. The four main characters, Alex the Lion, played by Joseph Hewlett, Marty the zebra, played by Francisco Gomes, Gloria the hippo, played by Jarneia Richard-Noel and Melman the giraffe, played by Joshua Oakes-Rogers were just amazing, their costumes and facial make up made them look just like the characters in the film. The costume design is just superb and so realistic. It added that extra element to the characters and the show. The rest of the characters, were puppets, controlled by very talented puppet masters who just helped their character’s steal the show, especially the four penguins and King Julien. They really do have to be seen to be believed. Obviously, you can see the puppeteers behind the puppet, but they are like one person, one character, their facial expressions, their mannerisms and their voices are just spot on.

My favourite characters were the penguins, just so cleverly puppeteered and performed. They made me smile every time they came on the stage.

King Julien, played by Karim Zeroual, of CBBC and Strictly Come Dancing fame, was so funny, as expected, but the way his character was portrayed, costume wise, just added to the hilarity of the character.

The stage was simple, with the crates from the ship framing the stage. The city of New York was portrayed by simple skyscrapers lit up and the New York Zoo from which they escaped was portrayed using moving walls and gates, as seen in the film, even Marty’s exercise machine was included, all decked out in zebra stripes. The ‘wild’ was made using leaves and vines that came from the sides and across the stage. It was all very simple in its design as not to take away from the characters. Even the animal’s voyage on the ship was portrayed simply by having large crates as seen in the film and a ships wheel and the sound of a ships horn. The crates then cleverly broke apart when the animals reached Madagascar.

All in all, this is a brilliant show to take children to. The characters and the story and the singing just put a smile on everyone’s faces. I would highly recommend it and give it 5/5 stars.

Rating: 5/5 

Madagascar is at the Royal and Derngate in Northampton until 21st July, before touring the country. For information and tickets for Royal and Derngate, please visit: https://www.royalandderngate.co.uk/whats-on/madagascar-the-musical/. Prices start at £17.00 to £42.00 for tickets.

For information and tickets for the rest of the tour, please visit: https://www.madagascarthemusical.co.uk/tour-dates