Lion King Theater Review

On November 15th, I went to Minskoff Theater of Broadway to see a musical play, the Lion King. It is a live performance that is adapted from the original lion King animation movie by Disney. The Lion King musical play is directed by James M. Nederlander, James L. Nedelander, Sara Minskoff Allan, and the Minskoff family, with the leading actors Joel Karie as Simba, Nathaniel Stampley as Mufasa, and Derek Smith as Scar, and the playwright by Roger Allers and Irene Mecchi. The theme of the play is about growing up in the jungle, although I think there are some additional issues like friendship and responsibility.

The basic plot of the play is interesting. The story takes place in Pride land of Africa. The main idea of this Lion King story starts from a jealousy if the king’s brother which leads to the death of the king. The prince is blamed for the tragedy. Afraid of being responsible, the prince exiles himself and tries to begin a new life on his own. At the time when the prince is mature enough, he is haunted by his past sins and his father, the king’s ghost. The prince finally accepts his responsibility and returns to the Pride land to overthrow his evil uncle. I do not remember if the original animated Lion King had the exact same scenes as in the theaterical version, because when I saw the play, I felt I have never seen some of these scenes. But I prefer the theater script more than the script of the animated version.

Most of my attention was focused on Simba, the main character of the Lion King. There are two versions of Simba, the young and the adult. Both characters are played emotionally well by Justin Martin and Joel Karie respectively. Another notable character in this play is Rafiki, depicted by Tshidi Manye. She is the female leading character although her appearance in the story is minimal. The important antagonist character, Scar, by Derek Smith, put his effort to make his character alive. All the actors in this show have a very clear and loud volume when they are having a dialogue. There is no clash between the sound effects, or background musics and the players conversations are clear.

The theater design: the set, lights, costumes, make up, and sound are well prepared. The set did create the right atmosphere of emotions and a clear visualization for the scenes for the play. From the very beginning the room seemed dim, when the play starts, it helps the players create the appropriate mood. The costumes are amazing. Some actors even used a tool in order to imitate animals movement look real. The sound effects, including background music by the orchestra, give a sense of place and time. Since Lion King is a ‘half’ musical play, the orchestra has the important role to make the story’s moods real, and it did very well.

The audience is mostly careful and attentive to the play although some parents are busy with their noisy children. From the very beginning of the play, the audience was entertained by loud screaming by the cast, followed by the theme song ”Circle of Life.” I personally was interested in the performance and really enjoyed the play. Seeing this theaterical version of Lion King with my family made me feel as if I was a child again. I really recommend you to see this spectacle.