When I heard that Madagascar the Musical was coming to town, I just knew I had to see it for myself. I am already a big fan of the animated film, and I was interested to see how they could make it into a stage production - and a musical stage production at that.
As I entered the Oxford New theatre, it was teeming with parents and their children. It was then I began to suspect that perhaps this production was not really adapted for 30-year-old women. However, as soon as the curtain came up and the cast came on, I knew I was definitely in the right place!
The show started off with an upbeat song introducing the main characters: Marty the Zebra, Alex the Lion, Gloria the Hippo and Melman the hilarious Giraffe, in the New York Zoo. The most impressive things for me at this point were the animal costumes and puppets. They were extremely accurate, along with the set, which looked as though it was straight out of the film. The voice work of the cast was also excellent. They had the American accents down to a T, along with the nuances of each film character's voice - especially Antoine Murray-Straughan, as Marty, who did a fabulous Chris Rock impression throughout!
The cast is full of extremely talented singers and dancers. However, the standout performance of the night was X-Factor winner Matt Terry, who plays Alex. His voice is incredible and he really did add something very special to the show.
I was enjoying the production so much that I was surprised when the first half finished. The show is short; each half was 40-45 minutes, but I’m sure this is mainly because there were so many children in attendance.
The musical generally follows the story of the first film, and is full of gags and songs that the adults and children enjoyed alike. The set changes for each scene were seamless and didn’t distract from the story at all.
One of my favourite parts of the show was when they stumble across the Lemurs on the
Overall, Madagascar the Musical was great. It really is a fantastic night out for all of the family to enjoy due to the fact that it is very entertaining - full of laughs, good songs and dancing - and was finished by 8.45pm. I would definitely recommend the show, which is here in