Mumbler Reviews Madagascar the Musical

Madagascar the Musical has arrived at the New Theatre on George Street and will be there until this Saturday – 4th May. We were delighted to be invited along to the opening night to review it for Mumbler, especially as my three year old son is a massive fan of the movie. It’s replaced Frozen as the most watched in our house.

For anyone less familiar with the story, there’s Alex the lion, Marty the zebra, Gloria the hippo and Melman the giraffe who all live in a New York zoo. Marty dreams of life in the wild and so they all escape, together with some mischievous penguins, and end up in Madagascar where they meet King Julien and friends.

The show started at 7pm which is usually around bedtime for our two, so I wasn’t sure how well it was going to go. But my three year old was hooked from the start to finish, aided only slightly by an ice cream refuel at the interval. He loved it and here’s why:

• The show is FULL of huge, feel-good musical numbers which had everyone toe-tapping and swaying in their seats. There’s loads of colour and dancing, and the cast are extremely talented singers. Alex is played by a former X Factor winner – Matt Terry – and they make full of use of this, with lots of impressive harmonising.

• It’s funny and silly in all the right places, including lots of laugh out loud moments. King Julien, who appeared in the second half, was absolutely hilarious and got the biggest laughs of the night. The all singing all dancing rendition of ‘I Like to Move it Move It’ was brilliant.

• My son also delighted in the puppets and the more elaborate costumes – like Melman who has a huge long neck that the actor inside controlled with a stick, as well as the penguins, the lemurs and King Julien. These were so clever and the people controlling them really brought them to life.

• It’s true to the movie – so there are lots of familiar bits in it that my son enjoyed recognising, and I think it helped him to follow the story. Today he’s been chatting merrily about when Alex tries to eat Marty, which is also his favourite bit in the film (… we are veggie so not sure where that’s coming from…!).

My baby also loved it but more because of the bright lights and colourful set! We had a great time and would recommend this family musical to other Oxford families. My kids were among the youngest ones there, probably largely because it was a 7 o clock performance, but I think it’s a great outing for all ages.

Madagascar the Musical is running at the New Theatre until Saturday 4th May 2019 and there are matinee and evening performances.

Tickets can be purchased from the New Theatre box office on George Street, by ringing 0844 871 3020 or by visiting www.atgtickets.com/oxford (phone and internet bookings subject to booking/transaction fee. Calls are charged at 7p per minute, plus your phone company’s access charge.). Tickets start at £13.

For bookings of 10 or more call 0333 009 5392 (calls are charged at local rate – for group bookings only) and for access bookings please call 0800 912 6971 and speak to a member of our dedicated booking team.

 

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April 2019