Madagascar The Musical at Theatre Royal Nottingham Review
DISCLOSURE – TICKETS TO SEE THE SHOW WERE GIFTED TO THE REVIEWER AND GUEST FOR THE PURPOSES OF WRITING THE REVIEW
Reviewed by L Burton
We like to move it, move it all the way to Nottingham Theatre Royal where the cast of Madagascar the Musical strutted their stuff on the stage for the enthusiastic audience. We were super excited to join Alex, Marty, Melman and Gloria – complete with penguins and lemurs to boot – and watch their escape from the Central Park Zoo all the way to The Wild!
Alex (played by Joseph Hewlett) played the part of the King of the City – with all the style and sass of the Alex we know and love from the movie with the same name. Marty (played by Francisco Gomes) was a delightful character and his quirkiness made him a great choice for this part. Gloria (played by Jarneia Richard-Noel) was incredible in bringing her on screen sass and energy to the stage. Her huge personality was captured so well by Richard-Noel. Melman (played by Joshua Oakes-Rogers) was by far my favourite character on screen so I was very interested to see how this character would be portrayed on stage and I was thrilled with the puppet mastery put into this character. Oakes-Rogers did a fantastic job of filling these very big shoes! Together, Hewlett, Gomes, Richard-Noel and Oakes Rogers brought the formidable team to life on the stage at the Theatre Royal in Nottingham.
Our personal favourite stage presence was that of Karim Zeroual who played the part of King Julien – this show would not be complete without this character being played by just the right actor and Zeroual did just that. With his limber and precisely timed moves, it was hard to believe he was on his knees for the entire show!
Huge shout out to the Puppet Designer, Max Humphries, and Puppet Director, Emma Brunton that completely brought the penguins to life – I’m never sure how realistic it would seem knowing the person controlling the puppet was in full view of the audience but this experience cast kept my eyes focussed on the penguins. These furry schemers caused many laugh out loud moments and was just the cherry on the Madagascar Musical cake!
Set design by Tom Rogers and lighting design but Howard Hudson made this production a huge success. Seeing the stage change from Central Park Zoo to the crates on board the ship and then into the wild Madagascar was planned and executed meticulously – stage management was on form and every though there were many people on stage for the most part, it ran like a well-oiled machine!
I wasn’t sure if this show would interest older children and adults but my 12-year-old thoroughly enjoyed it. This would be suitable for family members of all ages but even at his relative short run time (40 minutes first act and 45 minutes the second), some younger children became very bored and chatty after the first 10 minutes.
Another massive shout out to the staff! *** (editor’s note – name removed) is most helpful staff one could ask for at a theatre show! *** (editor’s note – name removed) in particular was most helpful and made the evening turn out superbly positive – well done to the venue and the production team for a fantastic night! Ticket prices start from £15 and can be purchased from here https://trch.co.uk/whats-on/madagascar-the-musical/#book. The show is on until Saturday and still have tickets available for purchase. We allocate this show as a 4/5. This would make an ideal outing for the family during the summer holidays and as the weather turns cooler for the next couple of days, would provide a fantastic outing for all.
Rating: 4/5