As a Christmas gift for my wife, we recently went to see The Lion King (the musical, of course, not the Disney movie) performed in London's West End. Based heavily on the Disney offering, The Lion King is the story of Simba, a young lion who (wrongly) blames himself for his father Mufasa's death, and leaves his pride in shame, only to return years later to wrest the kingdom from his evil uncle Scar. Helping him along the way are his friends Nala, Pumbaa and Timon, the wise monkey Rafiki, and his father's right-hand bird Zazu. Need I elaborate? I think everyone's seen the movie.
The musical adaptation of The Lion King has won many awards, and my wife and I were greatly looking forward to the show. We were satisfied, though not blown away. Let's start with the good:
- the costumes were top-notch (A+), and really the best reason to see the show
- the story was fantastic
- the performers nailed the Disney versions of characters Timon, Pumbaa, Scar, and Zazu; their performances were great (and voices impressively similar)
And now, the not-so-good:
- the singing and the dancing/choreography was adequate, not great. I was neither enthralled nor disgusted. Both adults and the kids in the show were okay, but not as good as I expected for a professional theatre in London
- the musical differed from the movie a bit more than I expected. Though the characters were all the same, there were were several new songs and some minor plot differences. Not a big deal if you're expecting it, but I was mildly disappointed by the new songs (they just didn't impress me).
Overall, we're glad we saw the show; don't get me wrong. I just thought I'd be blown away, and I wasn't. It was an enjoyable performance with great costumes. I think the people who played Timon and Zazu were my favorites on the night.
Rating: A-
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