“The Lion King” is still the pride of the Walt Disney theater repertoire. The show’s Broadway production turned 27 on Nov. 13, and there are several tours criss-crossing the county at any given time. The landmark Broadway production, directed by Julie Taymor, continues to glow at The Bushnell through Dec. 1.
Disney cares about theatricality. When the company adapts the animated features for the stage, it doesn’t just but adjust it to whatever established form is most appropriate. For “Beauty and the Beast” it was comic melodrama, for “Aladdin,” pageantry and for “Frozen,” cutting-edge technical effects that made the stage look as frigid as “The Lion King” makes it look hot. “The Lion King” genre is puppetry and masks coupled with artistic modern stage designs. What it looks like is well known, nearly three decades after its premiere, but what’s remarkable is how fresh it still looks.
The Lion King still impresses with its stylized African influenced artistry. The original animated feature’s score has been given sharper world-music arrangements, with percussionists positioned on platforms that extend into the auditorium. The songs, by Elton John and lyricist Tim Rice, sound great live, especially with the warbling harmonies of this ensemble.
While the show is largely unchanged from Broadway or from previous tours, there are some jokes at the expense of “Frozen” and a brief reference to Connecticut that brings cheers of recognition.
Though they’re heavily costumed , the performers have individual styles that anchor the drama. The lead romantic characters, Simba and Nala, are beautifully attired but unencumbered by masks or puppet costumes. The roles are played by young performers in the first act and by adults in the second. In both cases, vibrant physical acting is required as well as strong emotional singing.
The younger roles are played by different performers on alternate nights. Last Tuesday, Bryce Christian Thompson was a bright-eyed boyish Simba, bringing innocence and playfulness to his first big song “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King” and to his act-ending encounter with the fun-loving “Hakuna Matata”-singing Timon and Pumbaa, while Ritisha Chakraborty easily established the necessary sweet-but-sensible tone required of Nala.
The adult Simba, Erick D. Patrick, is athletic and affable but also shows maturity and responsibility. Thembelihle Cele as the grown-up Nala matches him in both his virtuousness and his leadership skills, and sings “Shadowland” and “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” with profound delicacy.
Courtesy of Deen van Meer
An iconic photo of leaping lionesses from an earlier tour of “The Lion King” in 2017. The current national tour of the long-running Broadway hit is at The Bushnell through Dec. 1. (Courtesy of Deen van Meer)
The main villain of the piece, Simba’s dreadful uncle Scar, is a superior bad guy, pensive and brooding rather than angry or shill. He brings gravity to the show, contrasting with all those leaping lionesses.
“The Lion King” is also packed with first-rate puppetry, which has a special appeal in Connecticut, a state which boasts a first-class puppetry program at UConn and numerous top-flight puppeteers. The choreography and puppetry merge in such extraordinary spectacles as a graceful gazelle or a hyena scooting on its posterior. The acting, costumes and puppetry blend seamlessly with Garth Fagan’s choreography.
A lot of the dances accent what the characters are otherwise doing: feasting, praying and grieving grazing. There’s also fighting that is like ballet, suspenseful without being violent. The actors/singers/dancers interact with each other, or with big ornamental props or even with hot air geysers and bicycle-like machine that looks like a flock of birds in flight. A kind of narrator character, Rafiki (played with verve and a variety of vocal expressions by Mukelisiwe Goba) helps connect all these elements.
Zazu, Scar’s winged associate, is played with hoity-toity dry wit by Nick LaMedica. Nick Cordileone brings an energetic voice to Timon the meerkat that really humanizes the puppet, while Danny Grumich as the warthog has a wonderful way of shaking his back legs.
The last time “The Lion King” played Hartford was in August 2018. You could leave a hot sunny day outdoors in Bushnell Park to sit indoors and watch a hot sunny day in equatorial Africa. The show feels different in autumn. Its story is already dark and moody with themes of death, grief, deceit, revenge and bug-eating.
Puppeteer familiar to CT happy to be back in Hartford as Zazu in ‘The Lion King’ at the Bushnell
You should try to arrive early to The Bushnell for the most relaxed “The Lion King” experience. The free parking lot across the street from The Bushnell seems vast, but it fills up quickly, and early, for shows like this. They don’t start seating until around half an hour before a performance, but there’s plenty to do in the lobby, including a larger than usual snacks table (separate from the drinks areas) and, as you might expect, an extensive merchandise booth that doesn’t just do the usual T-shirts. Hanging out in the Bushnell lobby has become a much nicer experience ever since the theater started showing those creative videos of local artists on the archway that separates the front entrance area from the auditorium lobby.
Another tip, if tickets are still available: This is a show where sitting in the middle of the orchestra section is preferable to sitting near the front. Characters are seen spotlit in the balcony. Processions happen down the aisles of the auditorium. The first few rows of the back area of the orchestra section are an ideal vantage point to catch all the excitement as well as not be overwhelmed by those offstage percussionists. That said, there aren’t really bad seats for “The Lion King.” Disney sees to that, with a much better sound system than other tours travel with and extra speakers effectively utilized mid-auditorium.
It’s a full sensory experience with sound, light, art, and music.
“The Lion King” runs through Dec. 1 at The Bushnell, 166 Capitol Ave., Hartford. Performances are Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m., Thursdays at 2 and 7:30 p.m., Fridays at 7:30 p.m., Saturdays at 2 and 8 p.m. and Sundays at 1 and 6:30 p.m., with added matinees at 2 p.m. on Nov. 27 and 29. $29-$154; $170 for “added magic package” with show merchandise. bushnell.org.
