Review of The Lion King on Broadway

Greetings!

I might be one of the only people on the planet that has not seen The Lion King movie. I have seen The Lion King Jr. musical a bunch of times, as my son acted in it this past summer, so at least I am familiar with some of the material. Well, I finally got the see the full stage musical this past weekend at the Minskoff Theatre on Broadway, and I walked away very impressed.

The Lion King musical is based on the 1994 film, which is one of the most successful in history with almost a billion dollars in box office sales. The movie featured five songs written by Tim Rice and Elton John, “Circle of Life,” “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King,” “Be Prepared,” Hakuna Matata,” and “Can you Feel the Love Tonight;” all of these carried over to the stage version. You probably know the story, but if not it is a typical hero’s journey of a young lion, Simba, who takes out on his own after the untimely death of his father, later to return and take his rightful place in the world. Fairly predictable, yet satisfying!

The musical version of The Lion King debuted in 1997, with a bunch more songs and a few twists to the original plot (or so I have been told, never having actually seen the movie). And it has never closed down – that is an 18-year run on Broadway, making it the third longest running show ever, and it has won 70 major theatre awards. There is also a touring version, and all told over 80 million people have seen this show. Wow!

Since 2006, The Lion King has been playing at the 1600-seat Minskoff Theatre at 1515 Broadway in Manhattan. It is a nice theatre with good acoustics and line of sight, though the first few rows are pretty far below stage level, so the folks in the “good” seats will miss parts of the action.

The production was really quite amazing, in every respect.

The cast was wonderful, which is not surprising as the biggest and best singers and dancers flock to New York with dream of being on Broadway, and this show got the cream of the crop. Young Simba (Jahi Diallo Winston) and Young Nala (K’Lynn Jackman) had amazing stage presence and really delivered the goods. Note that these roles are played by two sets of actors so they doe not have to play every show – that would be a lot to ask of a kid. Two of the side characters, Rafiki (Tshidi Manye) and Zazu (Jeffrey Kuhn) actually overshadowed the other leads were their outstanding performances. And lastly, Scar (Patrick R. Brown) was simply amazing. He reminded me a bit of Professor Snape, at times!

But the costumes, masks and puppetry stole the show for me. These elements combined together to provide realistic animal characteristics and movements. Major props go out to Julie Taymor and Michael Curry for their work in making this magic happen.

The sets were also first-rate, with elements re-used creatively, and innovations used to show a flowing river and the famous rescue of Simba by Mufasa. The lighting was perfect, and there were no distractions from the crew.

The sound is the only area where I have any recommendations for improvement. Generally the volume was good, but adult Nala was hard to hear when she was singing. Also, there was a lot of reverb dialed into the mix for the solo singing parts, which is unusual for a musical, and distracting at times. It is a stage show, after all, not a record album and just because you have a tool does not mean you should be using it.

I wholeheartedly recommend seeing the Lion King on Broadway if you are ever in the tri-state area. If you like musical theatre, it really delivers the whole package and this production comes in a close second place to my favorite show ever, Wicked. Trust me!

Mahalo!

Review of Wicked at the Gershwin Theatre in New York City

Hello!

If you love musical theatre, you have to see at least one show on Broadway before you die. No matter how good the local theatre company shows are that you have seen, nothing compares to how tight of a performance you will see in New York City. This is the place that actors, dancers and musicians aspire to perform, and when the roles are filled only the best are selected. Also, after a show had played for a few months (or years), there are no silly mistakes and the sound is completely dialed in. It makes for a complete audio and visual experience.

Whenever I travel to the Tri-State area, I always make a point to get into the city to see a show, and a few days ago I got to check out the legendary Wicked at the Gershwin Theatre on 51st Street in the Paramount Plaza building. This 1933-seat house is the biggest theatre on Broadway, and it is one of the newer ones, having opened in 1972. This means the seats are not as tiny, and it turned out to be a great place to see the show. The acoustics and lines of sight are excellent, which is to be expected if you are throwing down cash for one of the best shows in town.

Wicked (the Untold Story of the Witches of Oz) is based on Gregory Maguire’s novel of the same name. Grammy and Academy Award-winning lyricist and composer Stephen Schwartz found the book, and negotiated to have it made into a musical, as Universal owned the rights, and had planned to turn it into a film. Schwartz wrote the lyrics and music, and Emmy-Award winner Winnie Holzman wrote the book.

The original cast had Kristen Chenoweth and Idina Menzel in the leads, and after tuning things up in San Francisco, the show opened at the Gershwin in 2003 and has been running ever since. That means over 4600 performances and close to $900 million at the box office. They planned to make the film version after the musical lost momentum, but they might need to rethink that. This show is a juggernaut!

The musical provides a different perspective of the more familiar Oz story, as this one comes from the point of view of Elphaba (the Wicked Witch of the West) and Glinda the Good. It begins before Dorothy’s arrival, and continues on though bucket of water incident. There is a little bit of everything: a love story, sibling rivalry, the corruption of power, and a fall from grace. What more could you ask for?

I could not ask for anything more than I got that evening – the Broadway production of Wicked was the best stage show I have ever seen.

For starters, perfect actors were chosen for the leads. They did not have to rely on the age-old trick of getting a famous TV or movie actor to draw the crowds in, so they staffed the production with top-tier actors and dancers that can actually sing (sorry, Zach Braff). Caroline Bowman and Kara Lindsay earned the roles of Elphaba and Glinda, Kelli Barrett played Nessarose, Kathy Fitzgerald was Madame Morrible, Tom McGowan played the Wizard, and Matt Shingledecker took on the role of Fiyero.

The 22-member chorus kept busy with costume changes, playing the flying monkeys, students, palace guards and the good-natured citizen of Oz. Their dance routines were spot-on, and nothing they did detracted from the overall show, helped in part by the flawless and innovative choreography of James Lynn Abbott.

Costumes for the cast were designed by Susan Hilferty, and they capered about amongst gorgeous natural and steampunk industrial sets by Eugene Lee. The elements on the stage were innovative in the way they were introduced to the scenes and also in the way the cast interacted with them. There were also some pretty cool animated objects, but I will not ruin the surprises for you in case you have not seen the show. The visuals were rounded out by some neat projections by Elaine J. McCarthy and lighting that was designed by Kenneth Posner.

Aurally, Tony Meola’s sound was perfect, as the actors voices sounded natural and were at the right volume, and the 23-member orchestra under the direction of by Bryan Perri, was mixed with the vocals so that there were no distractions and everything was balanced.

That word sums this show up: “balanced.” Nothing stood out or detracted from the story. Everything element and feature was high-quality, but I did not walk away saying “Wow, the sound was good!” or “Boy, the costumes were neat!” I left the theatre thinking about what a wonderful experience I had, and not realizing that 2 hours and 45 minutes had passed (with the 15 minute intermission).

For once I have nothing to complain about, and have only praise for a show, which never happens.

It is worth the time and effort to check out Wicked at the Gershwin Theatre if you ever make it to New York City. I know touring versions are available from time-to-time (it is actually playing in Los Angeles right now), but seeing this show will make for a magical evening. I promise!

Mahalo!