Madagascar The Musical, Wolverhampton Grand Theatre - review with pictures
The sound, the colour and the fun of the big-screen hit Madagascar left everybody dancing in their seats at the Wolverhampton Grand.
Alex the Lion, Marty the Zebra, Melman the Giraffe and Gloria the Hippo transformed from their DreamWorks animation characters on to the stage in musical form thanks to Matt Terry, Antoine Murray-Straughan, Jamie Lee-Morgan and Timmika Ramsay.
X Factor 2016 winner Terry has not lost any of the vocal talent that impressed Simon Cowell and millions of viewers three years ago, while Murray-Straughan's adaption of Chris Rock's Marty from the movie was near perfect.
Lee-Morgan had the toughest job, having to act like Melman and control the giraffe's mouth at the end of his long neck, while Ramsay was dripping with sass as Gloria.
The famous scene from the film where the animals are all trapped in crates is expertly recreated for the stage, while the second half of the performance brings a laugh a minute.
Jo Parsons has the best job in the cast, getting to play King Julien - the obnoxious, but hilarious, lemur who likes to 'move it, move it.'
Shane McDaid, Matthew Pennington, Laura Johnson, Jessica Niles and Victoria Boden also do a great job with the array of puppet penguins, monkeys and lemurs they have to control and voice.
If there was one criticism I would aim at the musical, it's that the story feels like it is rushed through, even though its run time is over an hour and a half, including a 15-minute interval.
But it provides fun for all the family and, as my seven-year-old daughter requested I put in this review: "It's awesome, you have to see it."
And you can't argue with that.
Madagascar: The Musical is at Wolverhampton Grand until May 11.
