An overview of a great musical
Disney came up with Lion King in 1994 and was popularised in 1994-95 when it came on VHS. The core of the story sticks to a lion cub who grows up in the jungle after the tragic death of his father, and his uncle takes over the throne. In 1997, The Lion King appeared in the form of a Broadway stage show and took the world by storm, again. This Broadway show is a legendary theatrical spectacle with lyrics by Sir Tim Rice and music by Dave Elton John, the stage animation of 1994 Walt Disney’s animated classic of the same name premiered for a pre-Broadway try-out in Minneapolis in 1997 before transferring to Broadway in the same year and was nominated for 11 Tony awards and won six of them including best musical and best direction of a musical for Julie Taymour. She was the first female ever to win the prize for the best director in a musical category. She defied critics who said convincing stage adaption of an animated story featuring singing lions was impossible, well obviously they were wrong because the Broadway production is selling 100% of the tickets and has been running house-full for every show since then. The production house was found in 1999 and celebrated its 20th century in 2019 at the Lyceum Theatre in London.
The history of the story
The story is some sort of loose adaption of Shakespeare Hamlet that an exiled prince summons up the courage to return his rightful place at the head of his homeland. The Lion King is the top-grossing musical ever created, amounting to more than 9 billion dollars and this is one of the significant reasons why Disney came up with a new 3D version of its 1993 film, given the fact that it would be the very way to capitalise on nostalgia with the help of a legendary story. The musical is divided into two acts amounting up to two hours and thirty minutes, including an interval.
The visuals
The choreography and the costumes fill the stage with colours and energy, the very efficiency of the actors shows that the whole act has been practised hundreds of times, it almost seems like the portrayal of a classic story using ballet. The stage is so well set and distributed that you will be awe for most of the time during the play. The set is big, bold and vibrant, it seems almost impossible to fit all the props and characters on stage, but they pull it off correctly.
Conclusion
Critics say that all movies are lion king, which essentially means that someone realises that evil needs to be defeated and takes a step in that direction. In many ways, the movie can learn things from the musical, mostly its spontaneousness and enthusiasm. This is one of those musicals which runs for year after year gathering more audience after every performance.