[NEohioPAL] "The Lion King" national tour at PlayhouseSquare

[Bob Abelman]

Pride and prejudice: 'The Lion King' returns to PlayhouseSquare

 

Bob Abelman

News-Herald, Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times, Geauga Times Courier

Member, International Association of Theatre Critics 

 

This review will appear in the News-Herald on 7/19/13

 

 

Watching the much beloved, Tony Award-winning "The Lion King," currently on national tour and on stage at PlayhouseSquare, takes some getting used to.

 

This simple coming of age story about Simba, a lion cub, is told with such pageantry, imagination and scale that it takes a while to catch one's breath and get one's bearings.  Even repeat patrons are bound to be awe-struck, and there will be many in attendance considering that the tour played to sold-out houses during an eight-week Cleveland engagement in 2003 and a six-week run in 2007.   

 

For starters, this Disney-produced musical is obsessively true to the 1994 Disney film on which its storyline, characters, dialogue and music are based, with several less hummable tunes added to Elton John and Tim Rice's Oscar-winning "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" and "Circle of Life."  Witnessing something live that is so familiar in animation is a surreal experience.  So, too, is loving the show before it begins, which was evident from the level of pre-performance buzz from the opening night audience.  

 

While this predisposition is normal, such prejudice can quickly turn to disappointment if the pride and the on-stage landscape it populates do not live up to expectations.  They do.  

 

This production offers more vivid colors, vibrant sounds and amazing imagery than the film could muster, so all that is familiar is intensified ten-fold.  Although some cinematic moments cannot be adequately captured on stage - such as the wildebeest stampede that sends our hero into exile - director Julie Taymor infuses these moments with so much artistry that they are reinvented and stand on their own merits.  

 

Ancient, multicultural forms of storytelling are employed, including Japanese bunraku and wayan kulit shadow puppetry, the primal, percussive rhythms and choral arrangements of African legend Lebo M, and explosive and wildly imaginative ensemble choreography by Garth Fagan.  

 

The sheer pageantry of this production is also disorienting, which is first encountered in the show's opening moments when a parade of African wildlife enters through the aisles and fills the stage. 

 

On stage, the anthropomorphized lions from the film are actors wearing magnificent masks that rest atop their heads to signify their characters.  The evil hyenas are similarly adorned.  At first it is difficult to know which of the two focal points - the face or the mask -- to watch.  This is particularly true for the bird Zazu and the meerkat Timon, who are stand-alone puppets with fully exposed puppeteers.  As the play progresses, however, the puppet and its player miraculously become one.

 

This metamorphosis is aided by expert craftsmanship and superb performances.  Standouts in this huge cast include Tshidi Manye as the mystical, Zulu-spouting baboon Rafiki, who is delightful, and Jelani Remy as Simba and Nia Holloway as his childhood friend Nala.  Although Logan McIntyre and Zyasia Jadea Page, as the younger versions of Simba and Nala, lack their counterparts' gorgeous singing voices, they rate high on the Disney-adorable quotient and win over the children in the audience from the get-go.  

 

For the adults in the crowd, they will be won over by the spectacle, artistry and energy (having just come off of a one-week break while traveling from Tulsa, the cast is sharp and in top form).  This should be enough to carry them through the thin, child-friendly storyline and justify the high cost of admission. 

 

"The Lion King" continues through August 4 at PlayhouseSquare's State Theatre.  For tickets, which range from $28 to $160, visit www.playhousesquare.com.

 
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