Madagascar - A Lovable Cheeky Menagerie

Madagascar the musical tells the popular and well-loved story of Alex the lion, the king of the urban jungle and the main attraction at New York's Central Park Zoo and his best friends- Marty the zebra, Melman the giraffe and Gloria the hippo. All have spent their whole lives in captivity at the zoo with no worries at all other than maybe an element of daily boredom. Encouraged by Marty, and assisted by some extraordinary penguins, the four friends decide to escape from their comfortable existence to go and explore the world.

All does not go quite to plan as the four friends are quickly re-captured, and as they recover from the tranquilizer darts used to catch them, find themselves on a ship which veers off course due to some very mischievous penguins and eventually hits dry land at the island of Madagascar.

The cast are fabulous. Karim Zeroual best known for anchoring the CBBC tv programme and for being a past finalist of Strictly Come Dancing in 2019, plays the wacky lemur chief King Julien and it has to be said that he makes the show his own. He certainly had the mostly young audience in the palm of his hand from the moment he appeared on the stage. Joseph Hewlett played Alex the lion whilst Francisco Gomes was Marty the zebra, Jarneia Richard-Noel was Gloria the hippo with some nifty dance moves and last but by no means least Joshua Oakes-Rogers was Melman the hypochondriac giraffe. Together they made a great foursome.

For me, the stars of the evening has to be the penguins. The puppetry skills shown by Laura Marie Benson, Ella Howlett, Brogan McFarlane and Connor Keetley appeared effortless and brought these lovable cheeky little creatures to life along with the many other animals in the forest.

The set and costume designs based on the originals by Tom Rogers are very clever as although appearing to be bulky don’t appear to inhibit or restrict movement in any way. The scene changes were simple, very effective and very colourful ranging from the iconic New York skyline in Act 1 to the lush colourful landscape of Madagascar in Act 2.

None of the musical numbers in this show are particularly well known but King Julien gave a rousing and memorable rendition of the most popular number ‘I like to Move it, Move it’ involving the entire cast which was accompanied by enthusiastic audience clapping. This was repeated after the final curtain call and soon the entire auditorium were on their feet dancing, clapping along and generally having a thoroughly good time.

As there’s something for all age groups to enjoy in Madagascar the Musical, the show ticks all boxes for a feel-good evening out for all the family.

Sheffield Lyceum Until 25th May