"Madagascar - A Musical Adventure Jr" by LEOS Youth Group

Duchess Theatre, Long Eaton.

OK, I'm probably the only person who has never seen the film "Madagascar", but for me that made tonight even more enjoyable as I knew nothing of the story or the characters, so this was all shiny new for me. I did this morning though download the soundtrack to listen to, and thought it sounded fun. After seeing the show tonight, I decided the soundtrack was not fun... it was CRACK A LACKING BRILLIANT FUN!!

Based on the DreamWorks animated motion picture, "Madagascar – A Musical Adventure Jr". follows all of the film's characters as they escape from their home in New York’s Central Park Zoo and find themselves on an unexpected journey to the madcap world of King Julien’s Madagascar.  

Alex the lion is the king of the urban jungle, the main attraction at New York's Central Park Zoo. He and his best friends – Marty the zebra, Melman the giraffe and Gloria the hippo – have spent their whole lives in blissful captivity before an admiring public and with regular meals provided for them. Not content to leave well enough alone, Marty lets his curiosity get the better of him and makes his escape – with the help of some prodigious penguins – to explore the world.

After escaping to the New York City streets and being arrested and put into boxes to be shipped out, the penguins hijack the boat, which results in all the animals, in their boxes becoming shipwrecked, and guess where they ended up?

It's a brilliant show with a really catchy soundtrack, and the reason why the show is as good as it is, is because of the amazing cast and their commitment and passion that they showed on stage.

Jude Yellop, who played the lion, Alex, was fantastic, and you could see that he was having as much fun on stage as we were having in the audience watching him. He can sing, he has stage presence, he lived the role of Alex and his talent roared from the stage.

Grace Collishaw played the zebra, Marty, and Grace definitely earned her stripes in this role. As with Jude, she has amazing stage presence and you just want to watch her whenever she graced the stage. Two of the strongest leads from a youth production, and I think that is due to confidence and that they had fun.

Roisin Parker played the hippo, Gloria, and reminded me of every hippo I have seen in a Disney film; lovable and huggable, well that's how I see Disney hippos. 

Completing the four main leads is Lottie Ludlow who played the giraffe, Melman. Lottie actually made me feel that she was a giraffe on stage, and that could be due to the brilliant costume she has, saying that, every costume was perfect for the character and you could see the toil that had gone into every stitch of every costume. I loved the way that when Melman snored, she snored the name "giraffe" - I know little things please me, but so funny and clever. 

A well-matched quartet of character actors, and obviously a job well done by the director.

The naughty penguins, and I love penguins ever since I got up close and personal with an Emperor Penguin at Edinburgh Zoo, but that's another story, were played by Kate Whitaker (Skipper), Nefeli Fryganioti (Rico), Flori Tasker (Private) and Holly Brooks (Kowalski). They made me smile with their characterisation of the penguins complete with the waddling walk that penguins do. Another brilliant quartet.

The lemurs were played by Jake Lightbown, Findlay Parker, Darcy Boyd, Charlotte Case, Emma Lowe - who will be performing her last show in the Youth section in this role, Grace Agius, Joe Stewart, Chloe Brooks, Bella Syson, Elizabeth Rippin, Abraham Collishaw, Ivan Hager, Ella Charlesworth, Frazer Brown, Lucy Coulson-Jones, Tom Lightbown, Naomi Thomas, Max Fuller, Evie Radmore, Phoebe Mellor, Jessica Peel, Niamh Lee, Holly Chambers and Quillen Parker. They all also doubled up as other characters like zoo guests, zoo keepers, steak servers, ship captain, chimpanzee, police officers etc.

As an ensemble group, their performance was second to none. I looked at all of their faces and there was not one of them who did not look like they were enjoying what they were doing, and that always makes an audience believe in the cast and enjoys the show that bit more.

The dancing was brilliant, especially the choreography for "I Like To Move It", and the persons responsible for that were Molly Parkinson and  Siobhan Parker, who also directed this musical, assisted by Claire Collishaw.

I'd never heard the soundtrack, apart from "I Like To Move It", until today and hearing it belted out on stage, made sense after listening to it this morning, especially "Raspberry Clouds". I loved "Welcome To Me" sung by the brilliant Jake Lightbown, as King Julien and Findlay Parker as Maurice Lemur, who both have wonderful comic timing and funny bones. The song "Steak" sung by Jude made me feel hungry (I'd not had my tea at that stage), and of course the opening number "It's Showtime" really got me in the mood for the whole show. 

Musical Director is Sam Griffiths, and he has worked his magic with these kids because as the music was from backing tracks, their timing had to be spot on, which it was, every song, every time.

With this amount of kids on stage, you have to mention the stage manager role as there was not a cue missed by anyone, and that is down to Katie Bird.

I touched on the costumes earlier but I must mention them again as they were professional standard, as well as the amazing make-up and hair. The wardrobe team were Carol McTernan - who was also responsible for the hair, Judy Watson and Judy Whyatt.

The set was brilliantly designed by Roydon Charlesworth and Katie Bird and the back projection added to the enjoyment of the show.

I am really pleased to say that the sound and lighting were faultless tonight. No missed mic cues and no-one left in the dark or chasing the spot. A perfect team with the two Daves; Dave Dallard on Sound and Dave Martin on Lighting.

It's not that often that I can't find a single thing to note that could have been better, even on this, the first night, but that is the case here. For me, everything was of an extremely high standard, and I loved everything about the show, especially the energy and enjoyment on stage.

The whole team done a crack a lackin job!!

"Madagascar - A Musical Adventure Jr" is at the Duchess Theatre in Long Eaton until Saturday 2 July.