Manchester Theatre News & Reviews

REVIEW - The Enormous Crocodile captures the hearts and minds of the audience - a happy and snappy production for all ages!

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We went to Lowry to watch The Enormous Crocodile. Read what our reviewer Leanne Parker had to say about this wonderful family musical...

On Sunday morning, my little reviewer and I ventured out to Lowry for a date with Roald Dahl’s ‘The Enormous Crocodile’. Most people are familiar with the book, with its familiar Quentin Blake illustrated images, and having just finished reading it with my 5-year-old son, I was keen to see how this delightfully scary crocodile and the multitude of animals who form part of his story would come to life on the stage - and how my little man would react to seeing them before him.

Originally a ‘Regent’s Park Open Air production in 2024, this musical, stage production of The Enormous Crocodile is directed by Emily Lim (The Odyssey, Pericles, A Declaration From The People, Bells for Peace, Wuthering Heights), with music composed by Ahmed Abdullahi Gallab, lyrics by Screenwriter and Playwright Suhayla El-Bushra (Pigeons, Cuckoo, Arabian Nights), and orchestration by Tom Brady (Guys and Dolls, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Fiddler on the Roof), this snappy happy production is a real treat for little ones and actually, a delight for all no matter their age. Lim’s staging is squarely aimed at the younger audience member and features a bright, bold, creative and super fun visual space which certainly appeals to children and serves as the perfect backdrop to our hour-long journey through the jungle following the dastardly crocodile in his mission to capture and eat some fat and juicy children!

The undoubted starts of this show are the menagerie of fantastical, witty puppets designed by Toby Olié (Spirited Awat, War Horse, Animal Farm, Little Shop of Horrors) and co-designed/supervised by Daisy Beattie (Little Shops of Horrors, Spirited Away, Animal Farm, The BFG). The costume and set design by Fly Davies (Paranormal Activity, 50 First Dates, Orthello, Macbeth) really contributes to the liveliness and joy of the animals as we move through the story and honestly, I was so impressed with both. These characters literally come to life from the pages of the book, each bringing their own personality and vivacity through music, movement and brilliant design features, as well as the flair, enthusiasm and radical joy of the players.

The crocodile is brought to life by Chelsea Da Silva (Making her professional debut) as it shape shifts, moves, disassembles and transforms cleverly throughout as he adopts various disguises in an effort to lure a group of children into his mouth, only to be failed each and every time as various animals, in the form of Trunky the Elephant (Precious Abimbola – Little Shops of Horrors), Muggle Wump the Monkey (Marienella Phillips– Henry V, Dead Man Walking), Humpy Rumpy the Hippopotamus (Jordan Eskeisa – Jesus Christ Superstar, Just My Imagination) and Roly Poly Bird (Ciara Hudson – The Magician’s Assistant, Malory Towers, Hair) step in and thwart his attempts with help from René Francalanza (High School Musical, The Wedding Singer) as Swing. The cast do a truly wonderful job of switching between the various costumes and characters. There are giggles, animal noises, toe-tapping music and far too much frivolity than there is any right to be given that this is a story about a mean crocodile who really wants to eat some human children for dinner!

The atmosphere starts before the show even begins, with thousands of bubbles dancing around the entire auditorium while we wait, to the utter delight of the small humans in attendance. And as the opening gets closer, cast members come out and mingle with little puppet fireflies dancing through the air and over the audience’s head, while the stunning jungle backdrop of the stage, and the sounds you’d imagine hearing there build, creating an anticipation throughout the theatre. That sense of wonder and magic feels just the right level of theatrical for the little ones and as the performance begins, and these characters emerge from foliage, engaging playfully with the audience, bringing the book to life, the sense of wonder never dissipates, and enchants for the full 60 minutes. At all points, the performers engage the young audience, including them in their exploits directly. A special mention goes to the part where the audience get to launch foam peanuts at the crocodile, which went down an absolute storm. The moral of this story is delivered well – demonstrating that being brave is a choice we get to make, that we can make a difference if we really want to and that when individuals come together to stand against a bully, they become more powerful, and this is not lost in the fun and the merriment of the performance.

This production is such a great example of how theatre can inspire and capture the hearts and minds of even the smallest audience members, and the puppetry is so creative, so fun and so magical that it just makes the impossible happen. Where else can children feel like they have opened their story books and seen the characters they know and love spring out of the pages into animated, musical, colourful reality, bursting with life in front of their very eyes?! I loved the fact that this was created especially for the children, but in a way that really does do it in a way that shows they, and their experience matter. The quality of the production creatively, combined with the talent of and energy of the performers is truly outstanding, and it delivers something special. As the lights come back up to signal the end, it’s not just the young faces in the audience that are smiling with delight – the adults are suitably impressed, with most of the chatter around me about how fabulous it’s been. Quite right too as this snappy, happy, joyful production delivers fun, inspires young hearts and minds and probably made a few fall in love with theatre for the very first time too. We loved it!

WE SCORE THE ENORMOUS CROCODILE - THE MUSICAL..