![]() And it’s set in motion in the most captivating of opening scenes. It tells a classic Shakespearean coming-of-age story: usurpation, dispossession, exile, restoration. It tells a tale as old as time - no, wait, that’s another Disney musical. The pride of The Lion King is the pure stage magic that turns human actors with puppet appendages into animals in every possible way and in plain sight. No cinematic special effects here, or, God forbid, fur suits. Of all its magical transformations, and there are many, here’s the one that seems the most odds-against: turning Disney’s lucrative hit 1994 movie animation into a stage musical with exclusively animal characters, sweeping African vistas and the kind of celebratory “spirit of life” you can only share live. And despite the rigours of time and travel, and the vagaries of casting, Julie Taymor’s 1997 musical (last here in 2009) arrives in a touring production that feels fresh, full, and vivid. ![]() If theatre is all about conjuring an imaginary world, there’s not a musical that does it with more eye-filling, breathtaking theatrical pizzazz than The Lion King. “There’s more to be seen than can ever be seen,” sings a baboon shaman at the start of the Broadway blockbuster that’s made its way across the savannah to the Jubilee stage again this week. Manage Print Subscription / Tax Receipt. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |