Madagascar, A Musical Adventure JR

Young NOMADS presented ‘Madagascar - A Musical Adventure Jr.’ which was a great showcase for these young actors who were obviously enjoying the experience, as was the audience throughout.

Based on the DreamWorks animated film this musical adventure tells the story of Alex (Harry Beamond) a lion and his best friends, Marty the zebra (Zara Fisher), Melman the giraffe (Tabitha Wall) and Gloria the hippo (Courtney Parker), who have spent their whole lives in blissful captivity before an admiring public, and one day decide to explore the wider world.  Harry lead from the front with a super confident performance as Alex which was matched by Zara, Tabitha and Courtney as his friends.  These four worked incredibly well together.

The characters were well cast, and they worked effectively as a team. There was good rapport between all the principals and, when appropriate, each one came to the fore for their ‘turn’.

Teghan Hegarty played the part of Skipper with authority, along with Jessica Cournane as Kowalski, and they lead their fellow Penguins Elodie Massuard (Rico) and Molly High (Private) throughout the action with a lot of silly comedy. The Penguins have always been favourite characters from the DreamWorks films and I can see why.

Of course, the story would not be complete without King Julien and what fun Harrie Wells had with this part. I enjoyed her delivery of dialogue and her interaction with the other characters.

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 and with commitment.

Choreography was very good, and the cast were well rehearsed in their general stagecraft.  Costumes were excellent and the make-up was very impressive. The set design was mostly projected backdrops with added flora, fauna and rocks which gave plenty of stage space for the large cast.  My only quibble was the body mics which were often late being switched on.

It’s not a great piece of musical theatre, it must be said, but this was a very good production.  There were several performances which promised we were watching up and coming principal leads for the future and I shall be interested to watch their progress as they further develop their stagecraft.

Well done Director Andy Thorpe, Musical Director Nicholas Sheehan, Choreographer Jodie Corbett and Young NOMADS. Thank you for inviting me to join you for what was a very entertaining evening.

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