I can trace my love of musical theatre to a single moment, seared into my 13-year-old brain. My mom had sprung for tickets to The Lion King at the Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto, smack-dab in the middle of the orchestra.
I remember my breath caught in my throat when the curtain rose and Rafiki, the sage baboon, belted her first note from centre stage
|
The Lion King Starring J. Anthony Crane, Dionne Randolph, Buyi Zama |
A male voice cried out in response from one of the theatre’s boxes, another joining his, and suddenly the stage erupted with life – all the colour and movement of the African savannah – and elephants, giraffes and hyenas, life-sized and completely convincing to my child’s eyes, loped down the centre aisles.
The Lion King, the award-winning musical based on the award-winning Disney film, debuted in New York in 1997, sweeping that year’s Tony Awards. It rapidly became a Broadway classic and has had successful runs in dozens of cities around the world. Now, for the first time, The Lion King has roared into Ottawa, enjoying a three-week run at the National Arts Centre (NAC).
The story of The Lion King is well-known, a tale of regicide and madness featuring a cast of lions, hyenas and warthogs (oh my!) and set in the African Pride Lands, drawing inspiration from William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. A young lion cub named Simba (role alternated between Niles Fitch and Zavion J. Hill) is groomed for kingship by his father Mufasa (Dionne Randolph), only to be betrayed by Mufasa’s brother Scar (J. Anthony Crane), second in line to the throne.
I sat down to the Ottawa production of the musical slightly skeptical that a touring production would be able to replicate the grandeur I remembered from my childhood experience of the play, especially on the NAC’s decidedly smaller stage. But when the lights dimmed and Rafiki (played with incredible strength and control by Buyi Zama) again took to centre stage, blasting the iconic first verse of Elton John’s "Circle of Life", and the appearance of the musical’s cast of creatures elicited excited squeals from the children in the audience, I knew the show’s magic hadn’t been lost in transportation.
One might feel trepidation sitting down to a Disney-produced musical, fear that they’ve set themselves up for two hours and 45 minutes of Mickey-Mouse-style characters dancing across the stage, but thanks to Julie Taymor, celebrity director of the show, it remains adult while still delivering the childish innocence and fun of the film. The lions of Pride Rock are not cuddly – they are regal, their actors wearing imposing wooden character masks atop their heads. Some of the costumes are more dynamic, utilizing full-scale puppets: Mark David Kaplan, who plays Zazu, the paranoid hornbill assistant to the king, was responsible not only for his own facial expressions, but those of the massive bird puppet that sat on or flew about his head throughout the show; when watching Nick Cordileone as Timon, the philosophizing meerkat befriended by an adult Simba, it was difficult to know whether to look at his face as he preached the importance of hakuna matata, or the sleepy, heavy-lidded expressions of the massive puppet walking alongside him.
Part of what makes The Lion King so enduring is that it features not only the classic songs that made the film so successful – think "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?" and "Hakuna Matata" – but an additional repertoire of rhythms and showstoppers inspired by Hans Zimmers’ original score and traditional African music. These chants, often sung in Swahili, bring the land depicted on stage to life, as even the plants hum and sway, leaving no part of the set static.
While certain numbers were obviously shortened or cut (notably missing was the delightful "The Morning Report", sung by Zazu, Mufasa and Simba) due either to time constraints or a lack of space, the entire show ran smoothly, thanks largely to a strong chorus who attacked their song and dance numbers with energy and remained in tight unison. Of particular note among the cast were Scar, who seemed to relish his villainy, delivering his lives with the perfect blend of loathsomeness and comedic timing; the grown-up Nala (Syndee Winters), who carried herself with all the regalness befitting royalty; and Rafiki, who owned the stage from the moment she stepped onto it, demanding the audience’s attention with her booming voice and authorative movement.
The Lion King is not to be missed, and plays at the National Arts Centre through Aug. 7. Half-price tickets are available two hours before certain performances, depending on availability.
Visit www.nac-cna.ca for more information.