Family Fun at New Wimbledon Theatre with Madagascar
A mix of actors and puppets proves a hit with children
Based on the popular film franchise
May 20, 2024
It was wonderful to see so many children in New Wimbledon Theatre at a show aimed at them which wasn't a panto. Their enthusiasm was quite contagious and I wished I had worn something with an animal print as many of them had.
At only 1 hour 45 minutes (including an interval), the show is short but presumably to retain the attention of the younger audience.
Act 1 opens with a rather long musical intro and then we meet the monkey m.c. whose 'poo' joke obviously went down well with the kids.
To the strains of 'Born Free', we meet Marty, the Zebra (Francisco Gomes) whose wish it is to go to the 'wild'; followed by Gloria the Hippo (Jarnela Richard-Noel), Melman the Giraffe (Joshua Dakes-Rogers) and, of course, Alex the Lion (Joseph Hewlett) who try to discourage Marty's plan of escape.
Enter the troop of penguins: Skipper, Rico, Kowalski and Private who are planning their return to Antarctica. As Marty does escape the Zoo, his three friends set off to look for him but all four are caught in the city and Act 1 ends with them in crates to be transported elsewhere.
The highlight of the show for me was the entrance of King Julien (Karim Zerqual) near the beginning of Act 2. To his credit, Karim is the only actor playing a lemur where the rest are puppets and, while well disguised, he obviously spends his entire time on stage on his knees. His rendition of 'Move it' had the audience singing along with gusto.
The remainder of Act 2 follows the adventures of the four friends in the Madagascar jungle and what Julien hopes will be their part in protecting the lemurs from their mortal enemy, the fossa.
The final song, 'Together Forever ' has a wonderful message about the value of friendship and an encore of King Julien's 'Move It' had the audience on its feet, adults and youngsters alike.
With a mix of actors and puppets/puppeteers, it is a very entertaining evening for all the family.
Anne Horsburgh
Madagascar was performed in Wimbledon from 9-11 May
Find Articles Like This Useful? Help Us Produce More This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism. Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets. We’ve always done that and won’t be changing, in fact we’d like to do more. However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do. We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area. A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site. One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute. If you do support us in this way we’d be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor. For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you’d like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site. |