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Madagascar the Musical
Malvern Theatres
**** For a crack-a-lackin’ musical adventure,
join the dastardly penguins in Malvern this week, as the New York zoo
animals dance their way to freedom with the hilarious party animal King
Julien Xlll of Madagascar. You won’t be able to stop moving! I was lucky enough to catch X-Factor winner Matt
Terry as Alex the Lion in Madagascar the Musical at the Alexandra
Theatre in Birmingham last summer, but at Malvern, Brandon Gale roared
just as loudly in the jungle, with all the flossing action needed to
leap into the King’s paws. Brandon Gale as Alex certainly puts on an
energetic tail wiggling performance as king of the urban jungle and hits
all the high notes with his best friend Marty the zebra, played by
Darren John. For those of you who haven’t seen the 2005
Dreamworks film, then you don’t know what you’re missing, but this
performance stands firming on its own two paws, so familiarity with the
film is hardly a requirement. The comedic tale begins at New York’s Central
Park Zoo where Alex the Lion and his best friends Marty the Zebra,
Melman the hypochondriac giraffe and Gloria the bottom shaking hippo,
have spent their whole lives being fed and admired. Marty enjoys his 10th birthday celebrations then,
with some encouragement from some adventure hungry penguins, decides to
escape the zoo and explore the world, that is after putting a rectal
thermometer in his mouth. So after a chase through New York City the zoo
keepers track down the escapees and ship them all off in crates to a
different zoo before the Penguins hijack the boat and they all end up in
Madagascar where King Julien Xlll resides the throne. This fabulously crazy adventure directed by award
winning Kirk Jameson with choreography from Fabian Aloise really
explodes into life in the second act where the performance of Move It,
Move It gets everyone jiggling in their seats. King Julien, played by Jo
Parsons is also the resident director and you can’t help but laugh at
his waddling and gagging, a real favourite of the show. Melman (Jamie Lee-Morgan) helps Gloria (Timmika
Ramsay) rescue Marty from having his bottom eaten by Alex as hunger gets
the better of him and the remarkable penguins ditch the Antarctica for
warmer climates. Madagascar the Musical is definitely lots of fun,
and definitely worth a second and third viewing, with an uplifting score
and highly energetic performances by all puppets and humans. Don’t
believe all the stereotypes about monkeys smelling but if you try and
film the performance you will have poo flung in your general direction
so be warned. Suitable for all the family so shake those hips
and Move it Move it! Alex prowls along with his fellow zoo companions
until Saturday April 6 before heading over the Inverness, so make sure
you pounce now and grab some tickets. Malvern Theatres Box Office - 01684 892277 or
visit
malvern-theatres.co.uk Emma Trimble
02-04-19 |
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