Theatre 2024: Lion King Revival @ Princess of Wales

When I watched The Lion King in its initial Toronto run back in 2000, seeing Julie Taymor’s innovative use of puppetry for the first time was a magical and awe-inspiring experience that can never be replicated.  The first beats of the African chants, the giant rising sun and the appearance of the animal puppets produced a thrill that will stay in my memory forever.  I was used to seeing puppet acts where the puppeteers remained hidden such as The Muppets, or manipulated marionettes from above via strings as Ronnie Burkett or the kids from The Sound of Music do.  This was the first time where human puppeteers strode boldly on stage, perfectly integrated with their puppet forms so that man and animal blended into one in my imagination.  Tall giraffes played by actors on stilts, graceful zebras, loping gazelles, swirling birds and a giant lumbering elephant that traverses the auditorium to climb onto the stage all congregate to pay tribute to the birth of Simba, the heir of Pride Rock while his proud (pun intended) parents Mufasa and Sarabi look on.  The act of the mystical mandrill Rafiki hoisting the lion cub into the air with both arms outstretched has become so iconic that it widely parodied including in a hilarious scene from the TV show Modern Family.

Since The Lion King’s inception, no other show featuring puppets has so perfectly merged man and beast in such a beautifully stylized manner.  But there have been other hit shows including War Horse and Life of Pi that masterfully manipulate life-sized animal puppets while the puppeteers remain in full view.  It is as if Julie Taymor unleashed the potential of using puppets on stage as a new and powerful way of storytelling.  This influx of shows using hyper-realistic puppets to portray animals has somewhat diluted the impact of seeing them in The Lion King.

Now, over twenty years later, Mirvish Productions has launched a new home-grown, hopefully long-run production of The Lion King, intent on bringing this beloved spectacle to a new generation.  Recently, my husband Rich and I watched this version as part of our Mirvish subscription series.  This was the first time for him and I was a bit jealous that he would get to experience the that initial thrill.  For me, on second viewing, the puppetry was still wonderous but I would never get that initial electric rush again. I do not recall feeling this the first time that I watched The Lion King, but other than when the puppets were on full display, the rest of the show felt long and slow with the first act lasting an hour and 15 minutes. Rich felt the same, so it wasn’t just a repeat viewing phenomenon.

In 2018, the musical incorporated video elements into the show in an attempt to modernize it and “create a more immersive experience”.  It worked in some scenes, as when a tiny mouse scampered across the stage and was “scooped up” and eaten by Scar or when Rafiki asks the spirits to conjure up the image of Simba on the mystical Baobab tree.  However, I felt that the over-reliance on video especially in some critical scenes dampened the emotional impact of those moments.  Video was used to portray the onrush of approaching wildebeests but the video screen was so small and the animals did not seem to get any larger before they were suddenly replaced by “live action” beasts on stage.  Even worse for me was the staging of the big dramatic showdown between Simba and Scar in the grand finale.  Rather than depicting the actors portraying those characters in a choreographed fight scene, large metal screens covered the stage and a tiny video stream at the bottom showed the two lions fighting. For me, this was totally ineffective and the drained the tension out of what should have been a climatic scene, which felt frantic and rushed after the 2.5 hours of slow build leading up to this point.

Still, there is lots to love about the show.  I am sure that the new generation of children who get to see the Lion King for the first time will still be enthralled by Taymor’s gorgeous puppetry, the vibrant colours of the costumes, the comedic schtick of Timon and Pumba, the great set pieces that include Pride Rock and the Elephant Graveyard, and the iconic songs that they know by heart from the animated movies.  For me, this production did not live up to my memories of my first viewing.  But perhaps, that is just a case of “You can’t go home again”.