|
Quote of the Moment
|
|
"No matter what I do, no matter how hard I try, it's the ones I love who will always be the ones who pay. I want a life of my own...I'm Spider-Man no more!"
- Peter Parker, Spider-Man 2
|
|
|
|
|
Rating:  out of five
Written By: Kelvin Hui
Disney’s The Lion King, both the movie and play now hold a special place in my mind and heart. Some of you may not know this but the very first film that I ever watched in a cinema was indeed The Lion King, I was eight years old and that was almost a decade ago in 1994. It was an amazing experience and I remember truly enjoying the movie, it’s nice that the first film that I watched has become one of the best in my life thus far. This animated picture was so successful; it grossed over 328 million dollars at the box office (it’s still in the top ten all time leaders currently) plus both adults and children adored it. Disney soon decided to adapt it for the stage after seeing the international hit that they had produced from a previous movie-turned-play, Beauty and the Beast. I have heard about this highly praised theatrical performance of The Lion King since it first began its run in 1997 and I knew that it was something that I would like to see someday. Last night would be that day.
I had heard that this play’s run would soon be over several months ago; they were going to end it to allow another Disney play to be produced and shown to the theatre audience. I wanted to see it before it ended since when it did, it would most likely never ever be shown again so this really was my last chance. I asked my mother to buy the tickets so that my family could go watch and surprisingly she actually did quite quickly, one day she just said “This Friday we’re going to go watch the Lion King." Suffice to say, I was looking forward to finally watching this performance and I hoped that it would be as good as people have said. Now I don’t watch many plays, I’ve only seen several: a Chinese one, Grease, Death of a Salesman, The Twelfth Night, Taming of the Shrew, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (yes I know, a lot of Shakespeare).
For those of you who have forgotten let me just give a quick summary of what the story of The Lion King was to refresh your memory. A young lion cub, Simba, is destined to follow in the footsteps of his father, Mufasa, and become ruler of the jungle and his home Pride Rock. But Scar, the king's evil brother, concocts a dastardly scheme to kill both Mufasa and Simba he also makes the young cub believe that he's to blame for his father’s death. Simba does what he’s told to and flees the kingdom riddled with guilt, he almost dies in the desert but is saved by a meerkat named Timon and a warthog called Pumbaa. The three become close friends in the years following as the cub grows into a young lion, they live happily until someone from Simba’s past comes into his life once again. Eventually the true heir to the throne manages to find the courage to return and finally complete the Circle of Life.
Disney’s The Lion King is one of the most elaborate, professional, and most importantly best plays that I have ever had the pleasure of watching. Everything about it was simply amazing, the costumes, props, lighting, acting, singing, dancing, and the way that they brought the film to the stage was just so creative and ingenious. I had no idea of what the performance was going to be like, I simply couldn’t imagine how they would bring such a movie to the stage it’s almost impossible and it could easily have failed. Were they going to speak, sing, dance? What were the costumes going to look like and how would that work? How are they going to do this and that? All of my questions were answered last night and was I ever surprised not to mention impressed by every aspect of the play. Leave it to Disney to have an adaptation of an animated picture and turn it into a live performance that works so well, almost everything that this company does is fantastic and this theatrical production is no different. First of all the costumes were jaw dropping, they were so beautiful and well made, they were simply amazing pieces of art. There are of course individuals inside of them but they’re just so disguised and well suited. There are several scenes throughout the play where I believed that there were true hyenas on the prowl or that the entire jungle had gone to give respect to the newborn son of the king and his queen, that’s how real all of the costumes looked!
Oh my goodness, the props such as the massive staircase that represents Pride Rock, the tree where Rafiki lives, and the giant elephant skeleton in the hyenas' wasteland were incredible. There were just so many things that attributed to the play that made it amazing and this was one of the most prominent ones. The lighting was very well done, so many “special" effects were used to bring to life some of the most memorable moments from the film like Mufasa in the clouds speaking, the stampede, the waterfall everything was just awesome and it made me say “wow" many times over. This is by no means an easy play to act, sing, or dance in you not only have to wear the costumes but also do the aforementioned things in them. The acting was quite good, I really liked the man who played Scar (I like bad guys for some reason…not in that way you sick freak!) and the kids who portrayed Simba and Nala were great for their age. Also the voices were very well done for Timon and Pumbaa while Zazu was wonderfully over the top, all three of these characters were funny and great. There were a few inside jokes and the play poked some fun at itself such as Zazu singing a song from Beauty and the Beast and Timon thanking one of the props (a man disguised as grass) for helping him get up. This was nice since it didn’t take itself so seriously if it did some scenes wouldn’t have been as amusing. The singing and dancing was an welcome addition to the play, for some of the songs they were quite beautifully sung while the other ones were exciting and fun, just the energy coming from these dozens of actors and actresses was inspiring. Finally everything that they did to bring this play together was indeed ingenious and very creative, it’s no wonder that this theatrical production was lionized! Do you get it? Lionized? It has the word lion in it? Oh man now that’s what I call comedy.
This is the part where I usually write some negatives down of the play but this should be short, there really aren’t any bad things that I can say. There were a couple of things that the actors did or how they were dressed that was kind of confusing and strange. For example why did Mufasa take off this head when he was having a heart to heart with Simba? Also why was the actor who portrayed Timon dressed and painted absolutely green? One of the reasons why I don’t think I enjoyed the play as much as I did was because it is made for children. I don’t know if I would have liked it better if I were a kid but I probably would have laughed more although I understand all of the jokes and dialogue while children don’t so I believe I can appreciate the whole show. I did not like the old Simba that much, he just wasn’t as good as some of the other actors but he was still okay. Last but not least, this has nothing to do with the actual play but I have to say that the seats were not comfortable but oh well that’s just a minor complaint.
Disney’s The Lion King deserves every accolade, award, and praise that it receives, I agree with everyone and everything that has something positive to say about this play, it was a theatre experience that I will never forget. I truly enjoy going to matinees and shows they’re something different from the movies and television. There’s nothing quite like having a performance being acted out right in front of your eyes live, it’s really exciting and neat to see everything up close and personal. In this play there was some interaction with the actors and actresses where they came through the audience with their costumes and props, which was a pleasant and awesome surprise. The Princess of Wales Theatre was also very extravagant and large, almost everything in it was classy especially how it was designed. The night was great, it was nice to finally go out to downtown no less with my mother and sister just to have a good time, I haven’t done that in a while which made the experience all the more special. For anyone who has not seen this theatrical performance yet, please do yourself a favour by buying tickets and watching this play you will not regret it. The last performance ever in Toronto will be on January the 4th, 2004 so make sure that you watch it before it ends because there will be no return of the king for this play. Disney’s The Lion King is one of the best plays and theatrical experiences that I have ever seen and had, hopefully it stays that way because both the movie and play now hold a special place in my mind and heart. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
|
|
| | |
