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What’s left to say about The Lion King?
The nearly 30-year-old production adapted from the Disney flick has been performed on every continent except Antarctica, seen by more than 110 million people, and has grossed more than any other play (or film) ever (over $10 billion). I went into a recent touring performance at Keller Auditorium with tempered expectations, thinking I’d see something so overdone and slick it might seem like plastic wrap. But what I learned about three seconds into watching a giraffe cross the stage on all fours on stilts during “Circle of Life” was this is no ordinary Broadway mega machine, no camp stacked upon camp (well, there’s a hair of that, more details later). This is dazzling imagination, dreamy and elevated—a sensory delight for any age.
Put the story away for a second—the otherworldly visual spectacle is where The Lion King shines. The cast moves around the stage with a kind of Cirque du Soleil strength and intention (please note the cheetah’s stunning cameos), exposed puppeteers moving both in harmony with their animal characters. And the costumes, weaved with Asian and African influence, are nothing short of jaw-dropping.
The jewels are the abstract moments—the lionesses hunting or grieving as one, the Pride Lands grass cutting across the stage, a stampede cascading down soft and ferocious at once. It’s the vision of avant-garde artist Julie Taymor, who’d never even seen the cartoon when she agreed to take on the project in 1997 (it earned her multiple Tony Awards, and made her the first woman to win for Best Direction of a Musical).
It’s when the story veers back to the Disney plot, like the banger “Hakuna Matata” that there’s a dull campiness that sneaks in (for frequent theater-goers, it might call to mind “Hasa Diga Ebowai” from The Book of Mormon touring performance in spring). Fortunately, those moments are quick lived. The play stays fairly true to the animated film, with a few exceptions. Nala, played by both Emmanuella Olaitan and Thembelihle Cele, takes a more prominent role. Scar, played by Peter Hargrave, depicts his evilness with a more loose, comedic tone. Taymor had initially envisioned adding a Vegas-esque interlude to Simba’s wandering years where he finds his way as a gladiator in a half-human, half-animal world, but that didn’t make it. We can only wonder what that might’ve entailed.
It’s easy to get swept up in the look and forget how gorgeous the vocal performances are—Cele was a highlight, as was teen Simba, Erik D Patrick in one of his last performances (starting Sept. 23, Gilbert Domally will be taking over). It all comes together with a larger-than-life feel, a childlike wonder if you will, down to the smallest details, like the shadow puppets crossing screens that come and go. When a ballerina crosses the stage in a Christmas-tree shaped wire of spinning ants, does it aid the story much? Maybe not, but it’s breathtaking, nonetheless.
SEE IT: The Lion King at Keller Auditorium, 222 SW Clay St., 503-248-4335 portland.broadway.com/shows/disneys-the-lion-king-2/. Multiple times through Sept. 28. $53+.
