Madagascar sounds like a trip. A colorful, lively one, as a bunch of creatures from N.Y.C.’s Central Park Zoo decide that captivity is not all much fun and take off for wilder parts of the world. Sound familiar?
Could be because you delighted in the Dreamworks animated 2005 movie. But this 2016 stage take will sound and seem different. It’s got songs. And look different too. The human-portrayed animals dance to beat the band at The Rose Theater.
With this 15-member cast taking on about 50 characters, plotting penguins have put their minds to changing their tower skyscraper-canyons for the more congenial iceberg-framed climes of Antarctica. En route they, plus Alex the Lion, Marty the Zebra, Gloria the Hippo, Melman the Giraffe, find themselves in Kenya before their ship lands on the island whose name you see above. Encounters with lemur King Julien and his retinue turn out to be a happy connection. “Without question,” said the Chicago Sun Times, “the hippest, funniest, most anthropologically mischievous musical in town.”
The book for this adaptation is by two-time Emmy Award winning writer of PBS’s Peg and The Cat, Kevin Del Aguila. The songs come from Grammy-winning George Noriega who’s made his name in Latino rhythms and Joel Somellian. Those two have often paired up for Nickelodeon and Sesame Street plus.
You can bet there’s be all kinds of joy all kinds of kinship, friendship; the perfect blendship.
Madagascar-A Musical Adventure is underway Oct. 7 – Oct. 22, The Rose Theater, 2001 Farnam St. Fri. (10/13, 20) 7 p.m. Sat. (10/7) 5 pm (10/14, 10/21) 2 & 5 p.m. Sun (10/8) 2 p.m. (10/15, 10/22) 10 a.m. & 2 p.m. Tickets $20. http://www.rosetheater.org