|
Regional Reviews: Florida - Southern The Lion King
The Lion King premiered on Broadway on October 15, 1997, at the New Amsterdam Theater, official opening on November 13, 1997. It moved to the Minskoff Theatre on June 13, 2006, where it is still running after more than 6,700 performances. It received six 1998 Tony Awards: Best Musical, Best Scenic Design (Richard Hudson), Best Costume Design (Julie Taymor), Best Lighting Design (Donald Holder), Best Choreography (Garth Fagan), and Best Direction of a Musical, as well as the 1998 NY Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical, the 1999 Grammy for Best Musical Show Album, the 1999 Evening Standard Award for Theatrical Event of the Year, and the 1999 Laurence Olivier Awards for Best Choreography and Best Costume Design. This production is a feast for eyes and a treat for the senses. It is rich with colorful costumes, creative hand-held puppet/costume extensions, and separate puppets great and small. Choreography is perfectly married to the actors as they create the illusion of an African landscape teeming with animals. Entrances through the audience, birds flying aloft, and actors dressed as animals singing from balconies all help to submerge the audience in one sensational experience. While the most famous songs are "Can You Feel The Love Tonight," "Hakuna Matata," "I Just Can't Wait To Be King," and "Circle of Life", they are not the ones most notable for helping create the feel of the show. The music of The Lion King is filled with pulsating rhythms reminiscent of the sounds of Africa. The orchestra, particularly the percussionists, play the show beautifully. The conductor commands the ensemble and the instrumentalists with impressive and tireless precision. This can be no easy task with the conductor being in the pit, percussionists positioned in two different balconies, and singers sometimes both on stage and throughout the house at the same time. The ensemble singing, the intricate staging, and the choreography for this show are all top notch. Tshidi Manye, as Rafiki the mandrill, has a commanding voice and a light-handed comedic presence. L. Steven Taylor has a masculine and comfortingly paternal quality as Mufasa. Patrick R. Brown is deliciously creepy as Scar, oozing contempt and cowardice at every turn. He is flanked by a bumbling trio of hyenas: Shenzi (Rashada Dawan), Banzai (Keith Bennett) and Ed (Robbie Swift), whose presence is a bit more menacing than in the film. Regrettably, some of the trio's funny banter was lost due to muffled microphones on the night attended. The grown-up Simba is played by Jelani Remy. Though he has a clear quality to his singing voice, he comes off a tad callow in both his acting and singing abilities. He is paired with Nia Holloway as the grown up Nala, who does a lovely job with the haunting song "Shadowland," though on this song the orchestra was too loud. Nick Cordileone is quite funny as the meerkat Timon, and Ben Lipitz is enjoyable as his best friend, the warthog Pumbaa. They too suffered from occasional muffled microphone issues on the night attended, so some of their lines were lost. Drew Hirshfield is great fun as the hornbill Zaza, Mufasa's advisor, but could go a bit bigger in his portrayal. The Lion King is simply one of the "must see" musicals. The star of the show is the spectacle itself. Actors as animals parading down the aisles, birds circling overhead, animal puppets tall and short, dancers moving about gracefully and menacingly—all make for a memorable, family friendly theatrical experience. It is a rare case of production values—the lighting, the costuming, the projections, the special effects, the puppets all sharing the stage— elevating rather than complementing or overpowering the performers and the story they are telling. Julie Taymor's vision and execution are sheer genius, and at the heart of it all is the timeless tale of the circle of life. In addition to The Lion King, lyricist Tim Rice wrote the lyrics for the musicals Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, Chess , and Aida. He also won an Oscar and a Golden Globe Award in 1993 for the song "A Whole New World" from the film Aladdin. The prolific Sir Elton John is the winner of one Tony Award and six Grammy Awards and has sold more than 250 million records over the span of his career. He is the recipient of a 2004 Kennedy Center Honor Award, and a 2006 Disney Legends Award. His other music awards include an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song for "Can You Feel The Love Tonight." The Lion King will be appearing on the Au Rene stage of the Broward Center for the Performing Arts through February 1, 2015. For more information, visit www.BrowardCenter.org. The Broward Center for the Performing Arts is one of America's premier performing arts venues, consistently ranked among the top ten in the country. Presenting more than 700 performances each year to more than 700,000 patrons, the Center showcases a wide range of exciting cultural programming and events, and offers one of the largest arts-in-education programs in the United States, serving more than 150,000 students annually. In 2007, the Broward Center was named the Cultural Embassy of Broward County in recognition of its success in linking cultural activity with the region's economic development. The Broward Performing Arts Foundation, Inc. receives and maintains funds to sustain, develop, and secure the future of the Broward Center. The Broward Center for the Performing Arts is located in the Riverwalk Arts & Entertainment District at 201 SW Fifth Ave. in Fort Lauderdale. The Fort Lauderdale engagement of The Lion King is presented by arrangement with Broadway Across America, Broward Center for the Performing Arts and Florida Theatrical Association and is a subscription offering of the Broadway in Fort Lauderdale 201-2015 Series. For more information please visit www.BrowardCenter.org. For more information on The Lion King tour, please visit www.lionking.com. Cast: Crew: The Actors and Stage Managers employed in this production are members of Actors' Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
|
