Unlike apparently most of the 400 members of the audience, we had only read the first of the Hairy Maclary series of twelve picture books by New Zealand author Lynley Dodd: "Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy". But we had also read "Slinky Malinki's Christmas Crackers", and the promise of Slinky Malinki being featured in the show was a bonus for Leo, who had loved the story and has a slight fetish for all cats.
The packed-out show features six of the books by Lynley Dodd, all set to music in traditional musical theatre fashion, with a backing piano track. The songs are well interpreted and the actors are engaging, but be warned, the lyrics are true to the original text and, as such, they include long words which are not part of the average pre-schooler vocabulary. In context of course, the play makes perfect sense and none of the boys had any trouble understanding the plot lines. Additional puns are also added for the enjoyment of adults.
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| Hairy Maclary show on stage! |
Audience participation was well received by most of the audience, but involved sequences which could only possibly be mastered by school children. Some of the animal costumes were also slightly scary for very small children, although I have to admit that the English Sheepdog Muffin Maclay was extremely cute and likeable. Overall, I thought the Universal age rating was a bit optimistic, but for school children already familiar with the stories, this is surely a terrific show.
Julien's scariest bit: Scarface Claw the scariest tomcat around
Leo's favourite bits: the promotional balloons we were given before going in to the show and Slinky Malinki sneaking around
Mum's favourite bit: the story of Zachary Quack - this was hilarious
Julien's overall rating: 4 stars (out of 5)
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