A solid 4 STARS for the musical stage adaptation of David Walliams' bestselling picture book for young children, The First Hippo on the Moon.
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David Walliams is fast-becoming one of the UK’s most prolific (and successful) children’s authors. Following the stage success of such adaptations as Gangsta Granny and Awful Auntie, comes The First Hippo on the Moon a musical play based on Walliams’ bestselling picture book for younger children.
Sheila wants to go to the moon – purely to beat Hercules, her former hippo friend – to the title of First Hippo on the Moon. As the show progresses, it emerges that Hercules is now a much heralded Hippo worth billions and adored by all after he was taken from the swamp and put into a busy zoo. Sheila is furious as it was really her the zoo owners wanted, but while she was packing her toothbrush Hercules stepped in and stole her spot.
Sheila sees Hercules boasting about his planned lunar mission on television and resolves to get into space before him. But how? What follows is lively, fun-filled hour explaining how teamwork, determination and friendship can lead to success.
The book has been deftly adapted by Oliver Lansley and is presented by the multi-talented team at Les Petits Theatre Company. The six-strong cast sing, dance and interact with the audience, all the while displaying some fantastic puppetry skills. The story fairly rattles along, which is just as well, as I would say this is really aimed at children aged three to six and by the end there was some shuffling. There is lots of talk about poo – which the youngsters in the audience found hilarious – and lots of poo-ing, which is accompanied by the relevant noises (!), which the children found even more hilarious.
Running at just over an hour, this is a wonderful introduction into live theatre for little ones. The jungle set is warm and welcoming and the puppetry really is superb. And while the morals of the tale are subtly presented, it nevertheless reinforces the idea that being nice and having friends you can rely on, is more important than being the best or the first!
First Hippo on the Moon is at G-Live until February 19; then at The Hexagon, Reading on March 28. For further information and tickets visit lespetitstheatre.com
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