In our family, Friday is the day we set aside for a bit of fun, and this Friday, I surprised my kids with tickets to the latest musical to hit town, Madagascar Live! It has also been a long week for me and I was certainly looking forward to some fun with my kids. As an additional treat, I had arranged to bring one of Noey’s friends with us for the evening.
As it turned out, the fact that I brought an additional playmate along was the saving grace for the evening. While Madagascar Live! is based on the hit animated film Madagascar and in fact follows the script and storyline of the show closely, the fun and whimsy of the film did not quite translate onto stage.
Let me start with the positives.
If your children are familiar with the Madagascar movie franchise, they will be happy to see all their beloved characters on stage in the flesh. Marty the Zebra, Alex the Lion, Melman the Giraffe, Gloria the Hippo, the scheming Penguins were all present. Even the monkeys made an appearance albeit as puppets. The characters were all recognisably dressed as animals and even the youngest members in the audience would have had no trouble recognising each of them (unlike some productions we’ve seen, which only alluded to the characters they were portraying).
As mentioned earlier, the storyline closely follows the original Madagascar story, albeit modified and abridged for stage, and my children were able to quickly pick out the similarities and differences. It was easy to follow and it was one of the only times I’ve ever watched a show with my kids where I didn’t get any questions from the kids asking me to explain the action.
It being a musical, it featured many more musical numbers than in the original film. I welcomed these, especially in the second half of the show where the cast dancing in sync to upbeat numbers lifted the energy of the show. Everyone’s favourite song — “I Love To Move It” — featured prominently and that moment during the finale when everyone was invited to jump out of their seats to dance along was unanimously voted as the best moment of the show by all three kids with me.
Unfortunately, the production was on the whole let down by the fact that it was really wasn’t “live” after all. The biggest sticking point for me was that the sound for the show was pre-recorded and the actors were lip-synced their way through. While they did an admirable job syncing along, there were inevitably moments when they weren’t quite up to speed and I found that jarring. While the pre-recorded track meant that the characters sounded exactly like they do in the animated film (something my son noted), it also meant that most of the production lacked the energy you would expect from live theatre. I thought it seemed particularly off when the characters ventured to interact with audience members and you could see up close that they were lip-syncing.
The sets for New York were interesting and I particularly liked the recreation of the subway train that the characters got on and off, but when the action moved away from the city, the set consisted mainly of a projected backdrop. I thought that the stage looked rather empty as a result. For a production where the top-tier tickets cost upwards of $100 a piece, I would have expected more, even if the show was targeted at young audiences.
When I asked them for their opinion after the show, my 5-year old was happy to declare that she enjoyed it but I got a much more muted response from my two 7-year olds. It was a pity as Madagascar Live! has much promise as a show that could connect with young audiences and the whole family could enjoy together.
Madagascar Live!
Ticketing and Show Information
Season: 21 Apr to 24 Apr 2016
Venue: Grand Theatre, MasterCard Theatres at Marina Bay Sands
Performance Times: Thursday and Friday 6pm; Saturday and Sunday 11am, 2.30pm, 6pm
Ticket Prices: $40 through to $130
Duration: Approximately 1 hour 40 minutes (including 20 min interval)
Booking through Internet: Marina Bay Sands Ticketing or Sistic
Booking by Phone: +65 6688 8826
*We were provided tickets to this show for the purpose of this review. All photos (save as watermarked) are courtesy of Madagascar Live! and Base Entertainment. All opinions remain, as always, authentically my own.
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