REVIEW: Madagascar the Musical at the Kings Theatre, Southsea

You're thrown into Marty the Zebra's enclosure in Central Park Zoo, where he discusses his desire to be in the wild. Played by Antoine Murray-Straughan, the Marty on stage encapsulates all of his characteristics we loved from the original film, from the quirky accent to the cheeky personality. Comforted by his best bud Alex the Lion (Matt Terry), the duo sang and danced their way through the entire adventure together.

Naturally in musicals, the cast did chime into song every time a key word was mentioned, which was perhaps repetitive but expected. Gloria (Timmika Ramsay) and Melman (Jamie Lee-Morgan) joined the duo in Madagascar, both with incredible vocals and accents. However tricky it may have been to costume a 'hypochond-giraffe', the production team pulled it off with his swaying long neck, awarded with a whirring laugh from the audience. 

The costumes throughout the performance were impressive. Although puppeteers played those pesky penguins, they acted a great part and deserved every minute they spent on stage. And lastly, a special shout-out to King Julien, who was the highlight of the night. The hilarious lemur's accent and funny facials cracked the entire audience up '“ if only we saw more of him.