After months or maybe years of waiting, I finally get to watch the Broadway version of this Disney cartoon. I’ve always wanted to watch it whenever I’m in London but never get around to it. I’ve heard so many great reviews about The Lion King. Our friend Lee Kiang & Mauro who are living in London, have watched it 3 times..so I guess it has got to be good, right? And now, thanx to Disney Theatrical Productions, BASE Entertainment and Marina Bay Sands, I finally get to watch it in Singapore. Ok, it might not be as top notch as London, but it’s better than nothing.
So, we, C, MIL and Myself, went to watch The Lion King over the weekend, and one word for it – AWESOME!! The wise baboon, Rafiki opened the show and belted out the iconic song, The Circle of Life. The curtain drapes rose to a backdrop of the break of dawn and there were a pair of gracious giraffe, portrayed by actors carefully walking on stilts on all fours, while a cheetah was elegantly roaming the Pride Rock. What followed was a spectacular parade of animals slowly making their way down the theater’s aisle. This left many audiences gasping in awe. What caught our attention was the huge elephant that glide through the aisle from the back of the theater to the stage. I almost cried when they appeared because it was all too overwhelming! I was so moved by the opening, I knew it would be a spectacular show and YES it was!! I felt like a kiddo again 🙂
The Opening {image from broadway.com}
This musical is all about the special effects, costumes and how the show brings each and every animals into life. Many of the animals portrayed in the production are actors in costume using extra tools to move their costumes. For example, the gazelles. They would effectively gallop across the stage with large constructions of gazelles on their arms and with the cast members motions the constructions actually looked as if a group of gazelles were galloping across the stage. For main characters such as Mufasa and Scar, the costumes feature mechanical headpieces that can be raised and lowered to foster the illusion of a cat “lunging” at another.
Gazelles
Scar & Mufasa {image from broadway.com}
I could go on and on about how beautiful the show was but you have to watch it for yourself to know what a performance it was. All the cast portrayed their role perfectly and the costumes, the stage set up, the stunning effects and the enchanting music are all that made this musical a brilliant one.
Me, C & MIL
missus C 