Lion King

My mother took me and my wife and dad to the Lion King in Salt Lake. It is a masterpiece of theater. The story is pretty cliche' as we all know from the animated film. But a good one. Grow up, man-up and reach your full potential. etc.

I enjoyed the fact that they tweaked the story a little for a more mature audience. Nothing graphic or risque, but a noticeable shift from a target audience of under 8 to over 8. I enjoyed even more the heavy African themes. The music and costumes were much more reminiscent of African culture.

Most people have seen the crazy costumes and they ARE crazy. They are half costumes, half puppets and half props. (yes, they have three halves. that is the kind of crazy, magical engineering that went into these things). So the giraffe on stilts was cool. The huge elephant with 4 or 5 people working it that walks down the aisle to the stage is cool. I liked the zebra and cheetahs that had human back legs, but fake front legs, but with the head and front paws wired to the actor, so it had a very real range of movements.

The father lion and his evil brother, names are eluding me and I'm too lazy to search for them, had the coolest costumes. The actors had full lion head "hats" that revealed their human face while talking, but had an apparatus that allowed them to lower the lion mask (hat) over their own face to make a point. And then with a shrug of their shoulders, they could flip the mask back up on top of their head. Hard to describe or imagine, but a very cool effect. Luckily for us there was some gifted nerd who desperately wanted to be on Broadway, but had no talent. But what he did have was made math skills with which he studied engineering and applied that discipline to the costumes and stage of the Lion King.

Other highlights: There was very little actual scenery. Most of it was actors dressed as trees, flowers, grass, etc. But instead of being cheesy as one might think, the effect was amazing. There was a cool moment when they dragged a 1 foot wide, 40 feet long strip of grass across the stage, which made it seem like they were traveling.

The highlight of the stage craft was the wildebeest stampede down the canyon. Impossible to describe, but amazing to watch. Well done, Lion King.

The music was phenomenal as well. Two bongo drums up on either side in the good seats. Full orchestra. Perfect vocal work.