Brenda Mhlongo as Rafiki in The Lion King.Disney
There's a showbiz adage that you're only as good as your last show, so pity Julie Taymor. With all the bad buzz surrounding her most recent project, Spider-Man, it's almost easy to forget the director/designer's brilliant work on The Lion King.
The 1997 Broadway musical began life as a 1994 animated Disney film. The Canadian version of the show ran at the Princess of Wales Theatre from 1999 to 2004, and the current touring production has come back to the same theatre in triumph.
The story and characters are now part of modern mythology. The lion cub Simba is tricked by his uncle Scar into believing he is responsible for his father's death during a stampede. Simba runs away from the Pridelands and grows up in the company of lazy meerkat Timon and warthog Pumbaa. In time, the adult Simba goes back and claims his rightful throne.
The audience knew the story and the show. In the opening scene, when all the animals of the Pridelands assemble to celebrate Simba's birth, huge cheers greeted the appearance of each species. It was like they were welcoming old friends.
And in truth, the opening of The Lion King is one of the most spectacular in Broadway musical history. Tall giraffes are conjured up by dancers on stilts. Gigantic elephants are propelled by actors inside hollow puppets. Leaping gazelles appear through the illusion of head masks and arm apparatuses. Birds whirl through the air like kites on a string. Taymor and co-designer Michael Curry's creatures are absolutely stunning.
Everything about the show is a visual feast of imagination. The savannah is created by actors carrying trays of grassland on their heads. A human body becomes a tree with the actor opening his arms and seeming to sprout boughs. Taymor's costume designs are filled with the rich colours of Africa, echoed in the sun-to-sky scenic design of Richard Hudson.
And then there are the beloved songs, including the Oscar-winning Can You Feel the Love Tonight, and the Oscar-nominated Circle of Life and Hakuna Matata. Elton John and Tim Rice wrote the lion's share (pardon the pun) of the tunes, but it is South Africa's Lebo M who gives the musical authenticity with his beautiful African melodies and his choir's singing.
In the bad old days of road shows, the cast used to be lesser vessels, but this current touring version is a class act. Standouts include Tony Freeman as the ironic hornbill major-domo Zazu, Nick Cordileone as the wise guy Timon, and Ben Lipitz as the clueless Pumbaa.
Evil Uncle Scar is played with suitable sleaze by J. Anthony Crane. The well-muscled Adam Jacobs as the grown-up Simba and the lithe Syndee Winters as the adult Nala make a gorgeous couple. Everyone can belt out a tune.
I have to confess that underneath the visual delights, I've always found the story itself a bore - there's little that's original about it or the characters (you've got the wise guy, the hero, the birdbrain). But 12 years after the Canadian production first opened, it's the spectacle of the show that still holds up, and it will for generations to come.
The Lion King runs until June 12.
The Lion King
- Music and lyrics by Elton John & Tim Rice, Lebo M and Hans Zimmer
- Directed by Julie Taymor
- Starring Dionne Randolph, Tony Freeman, J. Anthony Crane, Nick Cordileone, Ben Lipitz, Adam Jacobs and Syndee Winters
- At the Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto