Review: Tarzan

“Wow!” sighs the whole family already during the intermission. Helsinki City Theatre’s Tarzan is an impressive, fairytale-like adventure musical that the whole family will fall in love with.

The execution is magnificent. The stage is one big jungle and hanging lianas. The charmingly moving gorilla herd makes you laugh and move at the same time. How cute! Even the ape-like sounds sound so real. They must have visited the zoo,” says five-year-old Anna .

Breaking monkeys

Tarzan starts fast, even a little scary. The viewer jumps out of the seat when a wedge-eyed leopard attacks the parents of baby Tarzan, killing them.

“Pretty wild,” Anna whispers and squeezes my arm.
Fortunately, the fast-paced atmosphere soon fills the stage. A pack of monkeys takes over the jungle, and some of them even know how to break. “What the is going on?” one of them says, and the audience laughs.

Tarzan’s growth from a little boy to an adult is fun to watch. The singing parts seem to bore the children, but the adult has been sold. The music composed by Phil Collins is wonderful, the song You’ll be in my heart, which has been heard a couple of times, is downright moving.

The age limit for Tarzan the musical is correct

What did the children like? The seven-year-old boy was ecstatic. He sat in the bench without flinching, occasionally whispering “I guess this won’t end yet”. As we were leaving the theatre, a boy was walking next to me moving forward like an ape. I was impressed.

For an almost six-year-old girl, the performance was a little too long (2.5 hours). The yawn was to take over in the second half, which is slower than the first. The flame of Tarzan and Jane’s love doesn’t seem to interest the children much.

At times, the little viewer is scared when guns and machetes swing in the jungle, but the scary scenes are quickly forgotten.

I think the recommended age limit for the musical, seven years, is correct. On the other hand, a brisk six-year-old is sure to enjoy it too, so the parent has to make the assessment themselves.

Tarzan can be warmly recommended: it is a sympathetic musical that will leave you feeling good for a long time.