Looking for family fun this week? South Carolina Children’s Theatre’s Madagascar, A Musical Adventure is playing at the Peace Center’s Gunter Theatre. My son and I saw the show this morning and we’re going to tell you all about this fun performance filled with music, comedy, dancing and fun for all.
Thank you to our sponsor the South Carolina Children’s Theatre for providing tickets to this performance so we could review this great show for our readers!
The Story
If you’ve seen the Dream Works Animation Motion Picture, Madagascar the story line of SCCT’s Madagascar, A Musical Adventure will be very familiar. Alex the lion, Marty the zebra, Gloria the hippo and the hilariously hypochondriac Melman the giraffe are on display at the Central Park Zoo in New York City. Spurred on by the ideas of those famous plotting penguins, Marty decides to head via train for the wilds of Connecticut. However, as his friends follow to rescue him they all get a little more than they had bargained for as they end up on a ship. Thanks to the penguins meddling, the animals find themselves washed up on a beach in Madagascar where they learn being in the wild is a lot different than the zoo. They meet the famous lemur King Julian, enjoy some dancing and hospitality. But what Alex the lion really wants is a steak, not seaweed on a stick. And the more hungry he gets, the more his friend Marty, the zebra, starts to look like a steak.
The Characters
My son’s favorite character in this show was Melman the giraffe. His constant remarks about MRIs, colds, sciatica nerve pain and more really added many layers of humor to the performance. We also liked his costume and the platform shoes that made him just a bit taller than his friends. The costumes in general were pretty creative, and if truth be told, the costumes, lights and sets was the thing that my son talked about the most after the show. He’s 8 years-old and loved to figure out how things work. That just goes to show you, there’s something for everyone at SCCT’s productions!
We also really enjoyed the penguins and King Julian’s “I Like to Move It” song. I remembered this song most from the New Year’s Eve Countdown Netflix puts up each year featuring King Julian. Because my kids don’t just watch it once to ring in the New Year. We have to watch over and over and over, because they think it is so funny. Anyway, the choreography for this dance was really fun, and they even performed it again at the end of the show and invited the audience to stand up and dance, too.
Who should see Madagascar A Musical Adventure?
We think children of all ages would enjoy this show. The performance lasts about an hour with no intermission, so if your young child would have difficulty sitting that long, this might not be the best show for them. Also, a mom note: The dialogue in the play uses, “What the heck!” several times which is not a phrase allowed in my house. Realizing all parents are different, with different rules and expectations, I just wanted to point that out.
Want to go?
The South Carolina Children’s Theatre is performing Madagascar at the Peace Center’s Gunter Theatre on the following dates. You can purchase tickets here. They cost $18 for children and $27 for adults.
June 17th, 1:30 pm
June 17th, 5:30 pm
June 23rd, 10:00 am
June 23rd, 1:30 pm
June 24th, 1:30 pm
Have you seen a South Carolina Children’s Theatre production?