Madagascar The Musical – Opera House, Manchester

‘Madagascar the Musical’, an all-singing-and-dancing adaptation of the hit 2005 film, is currently making its way around the UK & Ireland to the delight of children everywhere. 20 years after its release, it’s fantastic to see that this film is still being enjoyed by today’s generation enough that the draw of Madagascar can fill the Manchester Opera House.

This is a colourful, high-energy and fast-paced production that doesn’t pause to catch breath. It was clear to me that the children in the audience were thoroughly enjoying the ride, and were engaged from start to finish, singing along and giggling as they did.

Impressive set pieces by Tom Rogers were plentiful and rolled out often – I was impressed by how high budget and slick everything felt. I have to say, I didn’t care for the costume design, which was gaudy and uncanny. Don’t expect ‘The Lion King’s’ ingenuity here. Melman’s head in particular was disconcerting to look at and definitely didn’t translate well outside of cartoon-space.

This was a very talented cast that gave their all from start to finish. Joseph Hewlett was fantastically cast as Alex the Lion, and BBC/ Strictly star Karim Zeroual was hysterical as King Julien, nailing the iconic voice perfectly and shuffling around on his knees with shocking dexterity. I’d also like to give a shout out to Laura Marie Benson as ‘Candy’, who shines with a talent for physical comedy and total commitment for such a small role.

In terms of the adaptation itself, it was extremely faithful the film; don’t expect more than a word-for-word re-telling with some songs thrown in. Despite this, I found the pacing to be off. Much of the opening first act prior to their arrival at Madagascar could have been skipped in favor of more time with the lemurs and time given to Alex’s arc. His struggle between overcoming his nature and his love for his friends is the heart of the film, but here we see his struggle resolved almost instantly.

The musical focuses on comedy, and yet often the ball was dropped on some of the better jokes from the film, as the over-the-top cartoon-ish direction didn’t leave room for deadpan humour. A lot of the weirder banter between King Julien and Mort didn’t make it in, which made me sad as someone who always has, and still does, find the Mort voice to be reliably hilarious.

’Move it’ remains a classic earworm, although I’m sad to say that none of the other songs stood out to me in particular, and I found myself wondering if this story benefitted from its musical numbers or found itself bogged down by them.

Overall, this is a musical that children will enjoy thoroughly and a fun day out for the family; a predictable and reliable re-telling with a talented cast that does exactly what it says on the tin.

Reviewer: Bo Warner

Reviewed: 8th February 2024

North West End UK Rating: