Broadway artistry at its best
Written: Jan 27 '00 (Updated Feb 02 '00)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Incredible costumes, highly intelligent, impressive voices, actors are enthusiastic
Cons: Too abstract for children to fully appreciate, younger actors not very impressive
|
|
|
| garypai's Full Review: The Lion King |
From the opening number of this show, Circle of Life, you realize that this show is going to be a truly special Broadway experience. Anyone who has seen the Disney movie will not be surprised by any new twists in this show's plot. However, the Broadway version conjures up a visually stunning rendition of this popular Disney movie that leaves the theatre-goer in awe upon exiting the New Amsterdam Theatre in Times Square.
The most impressive aspect of this theatrical masterpiece is undoubtedly the costume design by Tony Award Julie Taymor. After all, this is a Broadway show about animals, and in order to understand the "animal-centric" themes throughout the show, the physical appearances of the human actors must appear as animal-like as possible to help establish the proper audience mindset. The costume design is extraordinary, as each piece is carefully thought out to properly represent its respective animal. Some costumes are extremely realistic; others are more symbolic of the animals they represent.
Among the realistic costumes, perhaps the most impressive are those of the hyenas. Ideally designed for three-armed humans, the actors who use these costumes must skillfully maneuver between operating the two fore-legs and the head/neck portion of this costume. However, the end results are motions and actions that are impressively similar to those in the movie. Other impressive "realistic costumes" are the giraffes, in which humans are mounted on long stilts; the elephant, in which a person controls each leg of the beast; and of course the cheetah, a mechanical masterpiece in which each limb, including its head are wired to the human controlling it resulting in a gracefully moving creature.
As for the abstract costumes, they are all designed with the intent not only to represent the physical aspects of the animals, but also their spiritual traits. A prominent example is the costume of Mufasa. In addition to somewhat royal, yet earthy clothes, Mufasa wears a lion-shaped mask. This mask is mechanically operated so that it can either rest on the actor's forehead or come down and cover the face. In its resting position, Mufasa is regal, dignified, and omnipotent. When the mechanical mask covers his face, he is in battle mode. However, whenever he wishes to reveal his sensitive, vulnerable side, as during the scene when he explains the concept of death to little Simba, the mask comes off. This type of symbolism is present throughout the show and reinforces the fact that this show is more art than performance.
This artistic display is reinforced by the props and scenery as well. The sets are minimalist in appearance, but technically complex by design. Disney has worked very hard to maintain the artistry of this show, while affording no expense to make the scenery as dynamic and contrasting as possible from set to set. An example of this is Pride Rock, which rests on a rotating platform (a la Les Miserables). Pride rock is very plain; but depending on which angle is being shown to the audience, the mood of the scene changes. While some sets consist of complex motor-operated parts, Disney also manages to find tremendous artistry in the simplest of props. One is the enactment of certain scenes using shadow puppets. While simple, Disney effectively uses these to portray some scenes that would be extremely difficult for humans to enact.
With all this artistry, Disney wishes The Lion King to be more of an intellectual experience rather than the typical sappy, predictable experience that is common among most other Broadway shows. This show was not meant to be fully appreciated by children. While those who are familiar with the animated feature will grasp what's going on, the symbolism and artistry requires a great deal of thinking to fully appreciate. Perhaps this is why the show is so appealing. Not only are we engaging the the visual and auditory senses, we must engage our intelligence and creativity - two human skills rarely employed by typical Broadway shows.
In terms of the tangible measures of performance, the music was nearly identical to that of the movie, with the exception of a couple of new songs written specifically for this rendition. However none were truly notable. As with most Broadway shows, I found the music to be rather empty from an instrumental aspect. This is due to the limited amount of space in the pit, so the orchestra must be smaller and more electronic manipulation is required to fill out the orchestral sound. However, the less-finnicky ear would still be very satisfied with both the instrumental and the vocal portions. The strongest voices belonged to Mufasa (Samuel Wright, who played Sebastian in The Little Mermaid), Older Simba (Jason Raize), Nala (Rashirrah Creswell), and Rafiki (Thuli Dumakude). The childrens roles of young Nala and young Simba were lacking in vocal quality, because the roles are played by children who have not fully developed their talents.
From a character standpoint, the sinister role of Scar (Tom Hewitt) was played extremely well. Danny Rutigliano also stole the show with his skillful mastery of the Timon costume as well as the humor he instilled in this show. I was somewhat bothered by the role of older Simba, due largely to the fact that the mix between youth and maturity was not fully reflected in Raize's acting. He had a tendency to show a bit too much youth in Simba than was warranted to show the coming-of-age of his character.
I thoroughly appreciated the overall experience of watching the show. I felt visually and intellectually satisfied, and emerged from the theatre awe-stricken. This exceeded my personal expectations, and exceeded the standard of excellence I had associated with Broadway classics such as Phantom, Les Mis, and Miss Saigon. The wait time for tickets is currently about a year, and is well worth the wait. The steep $85 per ticket is also well worth the price. This is an experience that can be appreciated well beyond the fall of the third curtain. This was evident not only by my personal reaction, but also by the standing ovation given to the deserving actors at the end of the show.
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
garypai
|
|
Location: New York
Reviews written: 43
Trusted by: 119 members
About Me:
I enjoy dining out, going to shows, and enjoying all the city has to offer.
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.