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NEW YORK -- From the
very first minutes of The Lion King, you
feel
yourself on new ground -- no, in a whole
new world. Disney's newest
stage musical doesn't just leave its
blockbuster animated-film roots
behind. It's a different kind of Broadway
creature (* * * 1/2 out of
four)
Animals -- a savannah's worth, played by
actors with stilts, masks and
tails -- saunter down the aisles of the
New Amsterdam Theater, swaying
to the sounds of The Circle of Life. It's
a theatrical flourish as
intoxicating as any you've ever
experienced. And then? This classic
story about a lion cub who goes into
self-imposed exile after the death
of his father hardly flags.
Unlike Disney's Beauty and the Beast, this
is no ultra-realistic movie
onstage. Designer/director Julie Taymor
and co-designer Richard Hudson
take a more abstract approach: Their
creations won't be mistaken for
real gazelles or elephants, but they zero
in on the souls of the
beasts, inviting viewers to mentally fill
in the cracks.
Most living things, even grasslands and
bushes, are portrayed by
actors; the effect is a landscape
vibrating with life. With such a
participatory dynamic, audiences seem to
vibrate with it.
Performers operate puppets with humor and
expressivity. Geoff Hoyle is
superb as the pesky bird Zazu. But as good
as Scott Irby-Ranniar and
Jason Raize are as the young and older
Simba, the performer who walks
off with my heart is Tsidii Le Loka, a
South African singer who plays
the muttering, wailing, hyperverbal baboon
Rafiki.
For all their strengths, though, neither
Taymor nor librettists Roger
Allers and Irene Mecchi have a smooth
sense of narrative. The subplot
in which Simba is raised by a warthog and
meerkat looks like a
different (and tackier) show. And one
wants more of Garth Fagan's
earthy choreography. The score, written
jointly by Elton John, Mark
Mancina, Lebo M and others, is a stylistic
mishmash that strays too
often from its African roots. Still,
musical high points are
considerable and come off even better on
the original cast album.
When The Lion King is good, it's
enthralling. It may run as long as its
tamer cousin Cats.
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