Madagascar the Musical, UK Tour (2024) Review
Cast of Madagascar & Joseph Hewlett as Alex. Photo by Phil Tragen
Written by Joseph for Theatre and Tonic.
Disclaimer: Tickets were gifted in return for an honest review. All views are my own.
I am very aware that I’m not the target audience for this show, surrounded by children I am transported back to my childhood and going to the theatre for the first time to see Muppets in Space.
They are not discerning visitors, they want to see the characters they love and to have fun, and it is fun. Mainly it’s very short, with an interval almost the same length as Act One, it is certainly succinct.
The first thing that hits you is the music. The sound in Act One was not mixed very well, so we were bombarded with a bloated Overture, possibly to aid with the run time! The costumes do work well, each character is recognisable from the movie, and the staging works well.
However, the characters did seem a little lax - Melman (Joshua Oakes-Rogers) aside, who was very good. I felt like the other leads didn’t have the same charisma and star quality as you’d expect. This is not unsurprising, when going up against Ben Stiller, Chris Rock and Sacha Baron Cohen, some of the best comedians ever, you’re on an uphill battle. Alex in particular lacked believability and it came across as a very talented singer and dancer. King Julien is the show's star for this kids, but the accent wasn’t great or consistent, and I found the actor moving on his knees distracting. The kids however were not bothered by this and just loved seeing King Julien (Karim Zeroual), who obviously likes to move it, move it.
The music itself felt very paint by numbers with not much originality, they were okay but nothing memorable enough to be singing even 24 hours later. One song, in particular, was outright odd, ‘crackalackin’, which felt potentially racially precarious.
All together it felt like a bit of a cash grab as they had taken a beloved IP, whipped some songs up and whacked it into theatres. However, if you’re 10 and you’ve seen the film, you’ll probably have a great time and give it 5 stars. Sadly, as much as my wife says I may act it sometimes, I’m no longer a child.
On a UK Tour until 24 August 2024.
☆ ☆
