New Victoria, Woking – until 16 March 2019
Reviewed by Isobel Glassar
4****
Recently, I had the pleasure of seeing one of the top computer-animated adventure comedy films Madagascar , now Madagascar the Musical, at the New Victoria Theatre in Woking. It was performed brilliantly, the actors put all their effort into their characters and it paid off, it was such a pleasure to watch. The theatre production followed the story line of the children’s film very well, the set design was brilliant, and everything flowed throughout the production when moving from one location to the next.
At first I was sceptical about the use of puppets in the production to play some of the characters, but they were so well made, and the actors really made them come to life on stage. They were brilliant for bringing that comedic side of the production to light, what also impressed me was the actors handling the puppets, they did such a great job at becoming the puppet that half the time you never even noticed the person standing behind it! The costumes were just fantastic, they did an excellent job on bringing these characters to life on stage.
Unfortunately Matt Terry wasn’t able to play Alex that night, so they had Brandon Gale step in. I was not disappointed, he did absolutely brilliantly. He had the charisma and cockiness of Alex the Lion that you would expect, and really flowed well with the other cast members, he was truly a joy to watch. The actor Antoine Murray – Straughan, who played Marty the Zebra honestly surprised me, Marty is a huge character in the production and you have the comedic expectations of Chris Rock, but he did such a fantastic job, he even sounded just like the character from the films, which added a sense of familiarity to the character. He managed to land every joke and honestly did amazing having to dance in that costume, it was quite impressive. He was definitely one of the stars of the show! The actress, Timmika Ramsay who played the character Gloria the hippo did an amazing job portraying the sassy and loveable female of the production and blew me away with her singing voice, I was also impressed on how she managed to do the production in that big costume, she made it seem effortless, and she was really a joy to watch. The actor, Jamie – Lee Morgan that played the character Melvin was extremely impressive, he managed to do the part amazingly, and all while controlling the head of the giraffe. He did well controlling the puppet, half the time I forgot there was actually someone in the suit! Melvin’s comedy was played very well, he did a brilliant job of playing the nervous, cautious character and the comedic spin just made him loveable. And last, but definitely not least the actor, Jo Parsons that played King Julian was fantastic! He really made the production upbeat and fun for all, he managed to bring the self-loving funny lemur to life on stage. He appealed to both the kids and the adults in the audience, he got people up and dancing and singing along. I have to admit his jokes brought me to the brink of tears, he landed them so well, and it was such a fantastic casting.
I definitely encourage you to go see this performance, whether you bring your children or just an evening out with a friend, it is honestly a joy to watch for all! You won’t find a production quite like this one, the actors, set and costume design was undeniably brilliant. If you ever want an evening for the kids, I recommend it tremendously.