Madagascar The Musical – Bradford Alhambra

THE ALHAMBRA Theatre was very well attended for the opening night of Madagascar the Musical which is running until Saturday October 27 with shows at 2pm and 6pm.

I had the pleasure to go and review this show with my five-year-old daughter who absolutely loved it and was up dancing to nearly every song.

The show started with a cheeky little monkey threatening to throw poo at us if we didn’t switch off our mobile phones, not that we’d need them as they had the audience mesmerized throughout the show.

The stage was well-set, and the use of the props was fantastic, the cast taking us on a journey after escaping from New York’s Central Park Zoo to explore the world.

The penguins decided to take control of the ship that was carrying their friends and ended up in Madagascar with King Julien (Jo Parsons) in charge. King Julien was extremely funny and had me in stitches when he was on stage.

Alex (Matt Terry) the Lion, Marty (Antoine Murray-Straughan) the Zebra, Melman (Jamie Lee-Morgan) the Giraffe and Gloria (Timmika Ramsay) the Hippo, all played a brilliant part and worked well together.

At times they took us into the world of children thinking that they were actual animals and not humans (a question that I kept getting asked!).

The finale was so much fun, getting everyone up from their seats leaving you no choice but to “move it, move it”, and throwing the odd floss into the mix we all left with a smile on our faces.

• Visit bradford-theatres.co.uk or call 01274 432000 to book tickets.

• Laura Harness