Wednesday, June 8, 2016

The Lion King on Broadway

The first time I saw the musical The Lion King, I was on a theatre trip to London so I thought it only fitting to see it again while on a theatre trip to New York!  That first time I was completely overcome by the animals marching down the aisles, especially the elephants, during the opening song "Circle of Life."  I was sitting next to an adorable little old lady who leaned into me and said, "I saw a tear in your eye!"  This time I was sitting near a group of young girls who were seeing it for the first time and and their reaction to the animals made me fall in love with this show all over again!  It is absolutely amazing how the actors transform themselves into the animals with puppets and prosthetics.  After a while you don't even see the actors any more!  The musical tells the well-known story of how the lion cub Simba learns how to be a king with music by Elton John and Tim Rice as well as traditional African music.  I had forgotten how much I loved the traditional music.  I had goosebumps when Mufasa (L. Steven Taylor) performed "They Live in You" and Nala (Chantel Riley) blew the roof off the Minskoff Theatre during "Shadowlands" (my favorite song in the show).  I really enjoyed Rafiki (played by the understudy, Thulisile Thusi) and her rendition of "He Lives in You" was another highlight.  As ever, I was so impressed with how the stampede in the gorge is staged.  It actually seems as if the antelope are running across the stage!  Of course, the scenes with Timon (Fred Berman) and Pumbaa (Ben Jeffrey) were a lot of fun, especially "Hakuna Matata."  My only complaint with this production is that I couldn't hear Scar (Gareth Saxe), Shenzi (Bonita Hamilton), Banzi (James Brown-Orleans) or Ed (Jaysin McCollum) very well so my mind wandered a bit during "Chow Down" and "Be Prepared."  Live theatre, and this show in particular, sometimes has the power to give you a child's sense of wonder for a few hours and I heard both children and adults squealing with delight during many musical numbers, especially the aforementioned animals in "Circle of Life" and the flying birds in "One By One."  I highly recommend seeing this show if you have the opportunity.  It was a lovely evening!

Note:  If you have the chance to see this show on Broadway, I highly suggest going next door to Junior's for cheesecake afterwards.  Some people in my group said that Roxy's had the best cheesecake in New York and one argued strongly in favor of the Carnegie Deli but Junior's definitely has my vote!

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