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The Lion King
Sep. 17th, 2006 06:27 pmI just got back from seeing The Lion King down at Memorial Auditorium. It was... quite impressive. The sets and the costumes were amazingly intricate and I got the impression that every inch of space had been considered and used. Several times during the show characters would enter the stage from the audience, so I got to be really close and see how exactly the costuemes were put together. The show also took advantage of vertical levels above the stage, lifting people up into the air or building platforms into the set so that action could take place on several levels. I especially liked the sequence during the song "Can You Feel the Love" where four people were performing acrobatics above the choreography onstage.
I thought that all of the actors were well cast in their parts, particularly Timon, Scar, Zazu and Rafiki. The musical used all of the songs and lines directly from the movie, but I liked the fact that the actors had been able to develop their characters further than what was done in the movie. Rafiki, in particular, was played differently from the movie but was still able to fit well within the storyline.
While I expected the use of lines and songs from the movie, I did not think that the blending between new and old material was very clean. I'll admit to knowing the film very well, having younger siblings and watching it several times as a kid. I felt that the spoken lines were acceptably blended, with the exception of a few here and there. But there was only one new song that I thought fit well, and that was because they used melody from instrumental portions of the movie to construct the song. The other songs were entirely new and I felt they didn't fit the style of the rest of the music. Disney songs tend to have set patterns to them, and it was as if the new songs didn't use the same patterns as the originals.
All said though, the show was well worth seeing. It'll be at Memorial until Oct. 22, so go on down if you've got some time and cash to spare. Or a family member with a free ticket!
I thought that all of the actors were well cast in their parts, particularly Timon, Scar, Zazu and Rafiki. The musical used all of the songs and lines directly from the movie, but I liked the fact that the actors had been able to develop their characters further than what was done in the movie. Rafiki, in particular, was played differently from the movie but was still able to fit well within the storyline.
While I expected the use of lines and songs from the movie, I did not think that the blending between new and old material was very clean. I'll admit to knowing the film very well, having younger siblings and watching it several times as a kid. I felt that the spoken lines were acceptably blended, with the exception of a few here and there. But there was only one new song that I thought fit well, and that was because they used melody from instrumental portions of the movie to construct the song. The other songs were entirely new and I felt they didn't fit the style of the rest of the music. Disney songs tend to have set patterns to them, and it was as if the new songs didn't use the same patterns as the originals.
All said though, the show was well worth seeing. It'll be at Memorial until Oct. 22, so go on down if you've got some time and cash to spare. Or a family member with a free ticket!