The Lion King - Broadway tour at the Orpheum

Photo by Matthew Murphy

 The Lion King, here on tour for the 6th time after previewing here pre-Broadway, is back at the theatre is started in. If you haven't seen it yet, you owe yourself to go. It is amazing, beautiful, moving, and is the perfect show for the whole family.

I didn't want you to have to read all the review to get to the meat of it...like those recipe websites we all love (?) so much. Like I wrote, The Lion King was born here back in 1997. The stage of the Orpheum was torn out and rebuilt specifically to add a lift, and a turntable in order for Pride Rock to rise and rotate up out of the floor during the opening number. It was spectacular. Since this is a tour, you don't get that effect but the opening number is still spectacular. (fyi: there may be spoilers in this review regarding the story, or the production) All the animals, which are very clearly puppets with actors inside them, or carrying them, come down the aisles of the theatre, or enter to end the Circle of Life with that visual of them all bowing to the future king - Simba. The story is known, and some consider it to be a version of Hamlet...the uncle kills the father to take over the kingdom, and making sure the son feels guilty for something he didn't do. And, as we know, Simba comes back and gets rid of the uncle...like in Hamlet. Clearly The Lion King has more music, dance, and incredible costumes and puppetry than any production of Hamlet that I've seen, but some of the story is similar.

Photo by Matthew Murphy

We see Simba grow-up, we are introduced to Nala, we see them explore together and end up in the Elephant Graveyard - which is where they meet the Hyenas, and we see how bad Scar (the uncle) is. Mustafa, the father, is killed by Scar during a stampede but Scar makes Simba believe that he is at fault. Simba runs away, finds Timon and Pumba, gets introduced to the idea of Hakuna Matata and act one ends with grown-up Simba flying on stage from a vine and finishing up Hakuna Matata. All of this is known by you, the possible audience, because by now I think everyone has seen the Disney film. What makes this telling of the story amazing, beautiful, and the perfect show for the whole family is how the story is told. All the actors on stage are in make-up and costumes, and most have costume pieces, or hats, or puppets to make them look like animals, or grassland, or whatever is needed to tell the story. This production is so imaginative in how it is told, and yet so simple. I have always thought the perfect example of the simplicity can be shown in two examples. The first is how the sun rises on stage. It could be done with light, but instead it is rows of fabric that are slowly being hoisted from the stage up to the fly. The final product is a circular shape and so as it is being hoisted, it looks like the sun rising over the horizon, each row of fabric getting wider, then tapering back down. So simple, but elegant. My second favorite is in Act Two, after Scar has taken charge and the lake starts to dry-up. The lake is a blue-ish, round piece of fabric that is visible on the stage floor. It slowly gets pulled through a trapdoor in the stage so that this circle of blue slowly shrinks and vanishes...like a lake drying up. So simple, but tells the story so easily.

Photo by Deen van Meer

This is just one amazing theatrical way that Julie Taymor (the first woman to win Best Direction of a Musical Tony Award in 1998) crafted and tells this story. I find this to be part of why the show is such a perfect family show. It relies on stage magic that is practical, that kids could understand and duplicate if they wanted to. It shows the audience that you don't need special effects. The show has so many theatrical aspects to it - obviously it is a musical so kids learn to tell story through music and song. It has spoken word like a straight play. It has moments of dance and movement telling the story so kids start to understand how dance and ballet can work as a narrative. It has shadow puppets (based on the shadow puppets of Bali), so kids learn about that form of theatre, and how puppets who may not talk can also tell a story. Finally the music is heavily based on music and sounds of Africa, along with five African languages, which helps kids to realize that they don't need to understand every word to understand the story being told. I think it opens people up to new ways to experience art - specifically theatrical art in this case. 

The cast was fantastic and strong - every one of them. You might think that due to the masks, and puppets that you don't really see the performer. That is one thing that Taymor did which is to put the mask above the performers face creating what she calls "the double event." It even comes into play through out where the actor will raise one hand to his physical mouth, and the other to the mouth on the mask. It consistently reminds us that we are watching a performer in a mask, though at certain moments the mask is what we are looking at more. I'm sure that this is a physically exhausting show to do but this cast never showed anything less than what you would expect. There were times that they could have spoken up a bit more, or the mics could have been turned up a bit, but that is such a tiny issue.  

Photo by Deen van Meer

Musically this show is also really incredible. Yes, you have the songs from the film - Circle of Life, I Just Can't Wait to Be King, Be Prepared, Hakuna Matata, and Can You Feel The Love Tonight. The songs that stick with me are two that are not written by Elton John and Tim Rice. They Live In You (later reprised as He Lives In You) was written by Mark Mancina, Jay Rifkin, and Lebo M. Shadowland (written by Hans Zimmer, Lebo M, and Mark Mancina), and Endless Night (Julie Taymor, Lebo M, Hans Zimmer, and Jay Rifkin) are both in the second act and written for the stage show. Some of these songs may have been based on the orchestra score that Zimmer and Lebo M worked on for the film, but these three songs stand out to me. They all have a rhythm that underscores the song and builds. They Live In You, specifically the reprise turns into a bit of a Gospel number, in my perspective, and it is one of my favorite moments in the show. It is rousing and gorgeous and moving. While I enjoy the John/Rice numbers, I think that these new songs are stronger and more fitting to the story being told. They also add a deep touch and feel of Africa that really helps make the show a strong work.

The show plays at the Orpheum through April 28 so you have time to see it. I would recommend going sooner than later in case you want to see it again. It really is a wonderful work of theatrical art.