Madagascar

Based on the smash DreamWorks animated motion picture, Madagascar- A Musical Adventure JR follows all your favourite ’crack-a-lackin’ friends as they escape from their home in New York’s Central Park Zoo and find themselves on an unexpected journey to the madcap world of King Julian’s Madagascar.  ‘Alex’ the lion is the King of the Urban Jungle, the main attraction at Central Park Zoo. He and his best friends – ‘Marty the Zebra’, ‘Melman the Giraffe’ and ‘Gloria the Hippo’ have spent their whole lives in blissful captivity before an admiring public and with regular meals provided for them.  Not content to leave well alone, Marty lets his curiosity get the better of him and makes his escape – with the help of some prodigious penguins – to explore the world!

This was my first visit to see Adlington Music and Arts Youth in action, and I do hope it won’t be my last! I have said this before, but I will say it again, there are occasions in life when we all think “Oh I wish I was younger”, this was one of those occasions, when you see such talented young people, performing and enjoying themselves so much on stage – so envious!

To put any type of show on stage takes a vast amount of time, leadership and dedication; there’s little or no doubt that AMAS Youth is blessed with many dedicated and experienced theatre people who are prepared to give of their time in the development of youth. My best wishes and congratulations go out to Sarah Pilkington (Director), Paul Stanley (Musical Director), Jennie Miller (Choreographer) and Heather Hodgson (Rehearsal Assistant) for their efforts in producing this excellent show….be proud folks be proud!

Before I get to the great cast, can I first pay tribute to the people responsible for the visual displays (The Video Wall) used throughout this production …. Nathan Kellie with additional material by Jennie Miller. We first saw the wall used during the ‘prologue’, when we were taken on an aerial trip across ‘the roof’ of New York…over the Empire States Building, into Central Park and then to the zoo…. it was amazing!  ‘The Wall’ allowed the creation of many wonderful scenes and effects. Congrats guys … its use added so much to the production!

There were thirty-five named on the cast list all of whom, I believe, gave of their best; so, it is difficultto select individuals without doing injustice to others. But, after saying that, I really do feel that I need to highlight the following for ‘stand out’ performances……

‘Alex the Lion’ ‘King of the Zoo/The Main Attraction’ was played extremely well by Joshua Nicholls. Well cast, Joshua is obviously a ’real showman’, full of energy from start to finish, fun loving; he really did bring this character to life…well done young man! 

‘Marty’ our ‘Dreamer of a Zebra’ was played by Ben Brooks. Ben was perfect for this role. Good singing voice …loved his rendition of ‘Wild and Free’ and his duet with Alex ‘Best Friends was excellent. He and Joshua had great chemistry and brought out the best in each other… be proud guys!     

‘Gloria the Hippo’ played by Niamh Hardman was another that was well cast and played the part very well. Looked totally at ease with the role, stage presence aplenty…well done!

Just loved Pheonix Melia’s interpretation of ‘Melman the Giraffe’ - ‘Hypochondriac’ ‘Slightly Nervous, I suppose a ‘Little Dozy’ and had great comedic timing…some great ‘one liners’!  Be proud young man!

‘King Julien’ played by Fern Corry was another who was perfect for the role!  Loads of stage presence, great characterisation and facial expressions……well done!

Last, but not least, can I just mention Max Holstead’s portrayal of ‘Skipper the Penguin’.  Max looked a little nervous at the start…but by the end, I felt he had overcome those nerves and was ‘living the dream’ …loved the ‘Penguin’s Sea Shanty’ and if I’m honest, loved the ‘penguin clan’… well done!

There were so many talented young people on stage, all of whom supported their principals so well. From the opening number ‘It’s Showtime’ to the finale ‘Together Forever’ and the reprise ‘I like to Move it’, you could just tell that everyone on stage was ‘loving’ being part of this show!  Everyone acted, sang and danced their hearts out, they had obviously worked hard, thought about their characters and were so enthusiastic…every one of you should be so really proud!

If I may be ever so bold as to offer one piece of ‘constructive criticism’ and I hope I don’t offend anyone by doing so…accents!  They are so important in enhancing a character, they can make them ‘real and authentic’, but when using them, you must ensure that it doesn’t affect the clarity of the spoken word!  It didn’t happen a lot, but there were times when I missed some of the dialogue because of the accent being used, which was unfortunate, because I really didn’t want to miss one single word!

The set was minimal, but with the benefits of ‘The Video Wall’ everything just worked superbly well…. congrats to ‘The Stage Team’ - Stephen Pilkington, Cliff Hill, Howard Bates, Frank Gartside, Russ Jones and to Sharon Morris for her Set Design.  Lighting was amazing and added so much to the overall production - well done to Jamie Flavell and Kirsty Lofthouse. Sound... there were one or two ‘quiet moments’, but those didn’t affect the performance…congrats to Joanna and Natalie Sweet.  ‘Costume and Props’ were ‘superb’ as was ‘Hair and Make-Up’ …well done to Ruth Cookson and Margaret Smith and Rebecca Crookson and Chantelle Stamp respectively!

Finally, congratulations again, to everyone involved in this production! Thank you so much for inviting my wife and I, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and look forward to seeing you all again soon.

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