Hello my friends, long time no talk. My fault! I'm sorry!
Anyway this post is a long time coming (I saw the show on
March 10th I know I know I'm a slacker please don't judge me I'm working on
it!)
Without further ado a review of The Lion King the Musical
The Lion King arrived in cold and rainy Manchester in
November 2012 before opening in December.
Even before performing a single show its stay in Manchester was extended
due to record breaking ticket sales, as it makes its first long anticipated
journey out of London. Manchester marks the second stop on the tour following
an 11 week stint at The Bristol Hippodrome. It is a show that has a company of
52 performers, and it mixes puppets and actors to tell the classic Disney tale.
Now however the Lion King is coming to the end of its stay
in Manchester as it plays its last show on the 20th of April, before heading
over to Dublin for the third stop on a tour that is scheduled to visit 10
cities over a two and half year period. Having never previously seen the show I
have always wondered exactly what it was that made this musical become the
international phenomenon that it undeniably is. After all it can't solely be
coming from the popularity of its source material in Walt Disney Animations
classic 1994 film.
What I can tell you us that though I was excited to finally
have the opportunity to see the show I was also a bit sceptical. I wasn't sure
if I would be able to get past seeing someone with a lion mask on his head as
just that or whether I would be pulled in to the point where I didn't notice. I
hoped that the latter would be the case obviously. It's strange you'd a
favourite character would be the obvious choice of Simba, but no the
outstanding performance of the night for me came from the character Rafiki who
was brilliantly portrayed by Gugwanan Dlamini. She provided a lot of the laughs
in the show, alongside Timon and Pumba of course, who could forget about them.
Forget about the whole idea I had that I would only be able
to see a human in a lion mask, my worries were quickly proved to be
unnecessary. From the minute that the show began I was simply astounded by the
sheer size of the production that was put on display. I don't think I will ever
get the image of what was probably a life size elephant walking down on of the aisles
of the theatre right past me during Circle of Life out of my head. It is a show
that simply captures its audience and refuses to let you go. If there is anyone
out there who is a fan of the film but isn't sure about seeing the musical
[side note: I am told that the touring production actually uses a lot more
dialogue etc from the film that the show in London does] go and see it. Please,
I promise you won't regret it. The costume design alone was enough to just take
my breath away and I would be lying if I was to tell you I didn't shed a tear
at Mufasa's death like always.
(What can I say I'm an emotional wreck, my friends and
family can vouch for that!)
For 14 years the Lion King has been wowing audiences at the
Lyceum Theatre in London and when the show scheduled to close this Autumn is
safe to say that this tour could well be your last chance to see it in the UK
so don't miss out if it's something you want to see!
It gets a thumbs up and giant 4/5 stars from me!
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