REVIEW: Madagascar The Musical – King’s Theatre, Glasgow

Madagascar, the much-loved, 2005 Dreamworks’ movie returns to Glasgow in its musical form, just in time to catch the school holiday crowd.

Our familiar friends from New York’s Central Park Zoo: Alex, ‘the king of the urban jungle’ (2016 X-Factor winner, Matt Terry), Marty the rapping zebra (Posi Morakinyo), Melman the hypochondriac giraffe (Connor Dyer) and Gloria the sassy hippo (Hannah Victoria) and, of course, King Julien the Lemur (Kieran Mortell) are all here, supplemented beautifully by Max Humphries’ penguin puppets and a colourful set design from Tom Rogers.

For the few who don’t know the story, it’s Marty’s tenth birthday, and when he finds that penguins Skipper, Kowalski, Rico and Private have decided to escape, he begins to long for ‘the wild’. After following the penguins out, Alex, Gloria and a reluctant Melman try to persuade their pal to return. Unfortunately, things don’t go to plan and the quartet find themselves on a boat bound for Africa.

It would be hard not to like this, Madagascar is as engaging a story on stage as it is on screen and has enough multi-layered humour to satisfy both adults and children alike. The songs are catchy, especially the ear-worm I Like To Move It, it’s delivered with humour and conviction and it boasts a small but top-notch cast to boot.

Matt Terry, despite what your prejudices might be about TV talent show winners, has a fine, strong voice, carries off the choreography with style, has an engaging personality and can act. He is ably supported by Morakinyo, Dyer and Victoria, who, again, perform with energy and commitment and keep the tiny audience members gripped throughout. The penguin puppeteers not only breathe life and character into their feathered characters but double and triple up on an array of human and animal parts and Kieran Mortell, of course, makes his mark as the hysterical tyrant King Julien.

For a production so seemingly simple there are small but notable details, chief among them Fabian Aloise’s choreography, which goes from urban/street in New York to more African/Tribal tinged in Madagascar.

This isn’t Pulitzer Prize-winning writing, it’s a simple story of friendship, but it’s perfectly-pitched to its audience and remains engaging and entertaining for all ages, throughout.

Runs until 4 August 2019 | Image: Scott Rylander

This post was originally written for The Reviews Hub