Reviewed by Richard Mays
Wow, what fantastic fun.
Too bad if you haven’t booked for this school holiday spectacular – the week-and-a-half season of Madagascar Jr was a sell-out
before the curtain lifted.
Was it worth getting in early? My word, yes!
Following the buzz created by the Manawatū Youth Theatre production of Moana Jr in April, artistic momentum is maintained in this smaller-scale, tightly focused but equally impressive show.
Based on the 2005 animated Dreamworks movie, a group of animals break out of their comfy Central Park Zoo home and find themselves marooned on the island of Madagascar.
Alex the Lion, Marty the Zebra, Gloria the Hippo and Melman the hypochondriac Giraffe, facilitated by a small waddle of pushy penguins, embark on a whacky looney-toon adventure that sees them adopted by a troop of Madagascar’s lemurs.
There’s not a weak link in the casting.
Director and musical director Graham Johnston has moulded this exceptional young ensemble into a well-oiled unit who deliver a crack-a-lackin’ cascade of colour, costume, chorus and choreography.
Anchored by Kade Kareko as Alex and Sophia Patterson as Marty his bestie in strong well-defined and well-sung characterisations, there’s great support from Lara Ogilvie’s spangly Gloria and Benjamin Viljoen’s neurotic Melman.
This carries over to Louis Barnes’ wonderfully realised Skipper Penguin, and the hyper-expressive inspired nonsense of show-stealing Aimee Goga as Julian the lemur king.
Emma Carey’s nattily choreographed I Like to Move It, Move It may have been a show high-point, but her dance ideas are beautifully woven throughout the production, as are moments of off-the-ball texturing.
It doesn’t even matter that edits to the original screenplay to squish it into the accepted one-hour junior format make for some clunky plot transitions.
Slightly slow to start, the production on a two-tier set designed for relatively quick set changes builds to a fast clip with excursions into the auditorium by a cast really having fun with their quirky characters.
They maintain this sense of enjoyment without compromising or betraying disciplined performance values, and their sustained commitment and energy make this one of the most enjoyable youth productions ever.
Appreciative audience members were quick to queue up afterwards in the Globe foyer for selfies with their character faves.
Yep, this live-wire jumpin’-jack Madagascar is gas, gas, gas!
