Review: Lazytown Live

Apr 28 2008 Madeleine Brindley, Western Mail

St David’s Hall, Cardiff

LAZYTOWN has become something an international phenomenon, receiving plaudits from around the world for its colourful approach towards healthy eating and exercise.

The television show, which is broadcast to scores of countries, and its hero Sportacus, encourages children to be active and avoid sugar in favour of “sport candy” – fruit – as he battles against the bad guy, Robbie Rotten.

The live stage show captures the essence of the concept, but somehow in the midst of an audience of screaming children and bemused parents, this message failed to come across in the theatre.

Lazytown Live was more of an opportunity for the youngest members of the audience – and the show’s target fans – to see their favourite television characters come alive.

So although Stephanie danced and leaped across the small stage, Pixel abandoned his computer football games for the real thing and Spotacus impressed with some high-flying gymnastic routines, the story and moral of the tale was somewhat lost.

It didn’t help that it was hard to hear what the characters were saying as Robbie Rotten hired a robotic superhero to oust Soprtacus from Lazytown.

Most of the lines were delivered in a mid-Atlantic drawl and the singing and dancing sequences were somewhat drowned out by the too-loud soundtrack, which again obscured the lyrics.

However, the performance improved dramatically after the interval with greater audience participation – Sportacus taught us all his superhero exercise-come-dance routine and there was plenty of pantomime shouting and jumping around from the young children (many of whom had come dressed as Stephanie and Sportacus) who had rushed to the front of the stage as the story reached its climax.

But for a show which is all about eating healthily – at one stage Sportacus was floored after taking a bite from a sugar apple in a cunning trick by Robbie Rotten – it was somewhat ironic that the curtains went up to the sound of hundreds of people opening bags of sweets in the audience.

And I’m sure the half-time ice-cream would not be on Sportacus’ list of sport candy.