Madagascar A Musical Adventure

Madagascar A Musical Adventure Jr. was a great choice for a workshop presentation. The Young Thespians were obviously enjoying the experience as were the audience.

Based on the DreamWorks animated film it tells the story of Alex (Molly Prutton) a lion and his best friends, Marty the zebra (Olivia Prutton), Melman the giraffe (Anna Jayasuriya) and Gloria the hippo (Clemmie Milligan) who have spent their whole lives in blissful captivity before an admiring public, who one day decide to explore the world.

The characters were well cast and they worked as a team together perfectly. There was good eye contact between all four and when appropriate each one came to the fore as leader.

Emily Surtees played the part of Skipper with authority and lead her fellow penguins throughout the action.

Of course, the story would not be complete without King Julien and what fun Charlie Prutton had with this part. You could have let yourself go even more in the afternoon performance but perhaps you were saving yourself for the evening. Never the less I enjoyed the delivery of your lines and your interaction with the other characters. Well done.

With a cast of almost thirty named parts it would be impossible to mention everyone by name but throughout, everyone performed to the best of their ability.

Choreography was very good indeed and the cast were well rehearsed in coming on and off the stage, in full view of the audience.

Costumes were good and the make-up was stunning.

My only cause for concern was the sound. It was far too loud and all too often lyrics could not be heard as the backing track over powered the performers. Such a shame. My stand out musical episode was “Steak”. Molly Prutton proved herself to be an up and coming principal lead for the future and I shall be interested to watch your progress as you perfect your craft. Well done.

Thank you for a great afternoon’s entertainment and as always, your generous hospitality.

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