Massive elephant and rhino puppets, actors visible beneath their animal visages, lumber down the aisles. Stilt-walking actors inhabit 14-foot-high giraffe puppets, perfectly mimicking the long-necked creatures' gait. Kite-like birds whirl. Gazelle puppets leap. And all this happens just a few minutes into the soaring "Circle of Life" opening.
"Jaw-dropping" is not hyperbole when describing The Lion King. I was mesmerized by the sheer artistry. My 11-year-old daughter too was thoroughly captivated (and declared that she wished she could try out the stilt-walking giraffe puppet).
While the storyline will be familiar to kids who've seen the 1994 Disney animated movie, this multiple Tony Award-winning adaptation – in its 17th year on Broadway – is anything but cartoon-like. Amazing dance choreography, African drumming and songs, and inventive, expressive masks and puppetry by the celebrated director Julie Taymor and Portland-based Michael Curry make the tale all the richer and visually stunning. (Movie fans, don't worry. You still get the well-known Elton John and Tim Rice musical numbers, like "Circle of Life," "Hakuna Matata" and "Can You Feel the Love Tonight.")
Taymor set out to create what she calls the "double event," so the audience sees the characters as animal and human at the same time. It's incredibly effective and elegant, with many actors wearing large animal masks mounted just above their heads, allowing us to see their human faces. We loved the details: lionesses showing their weeping by pulling long ribbons of fabric from their mask eyeholes, the illusion of waves of wildebeests driving straight toward the audience, a bicycle-like contraption that controls leaping gazelle forms.
For the uninitiated, The Lion King follows the rambunctious lion cub Simba on the African savanna. Destined to inherit the title of king of the pridelands from his father, Mufasa, Simba gets into trouble when he lets his curiosity and bravado get the best of him. Mufasa's jealous and deliciously sinister brother, Scar, plots to make sure it is he who will be king.
Scar allies with mercenary hyenas and prompts a stampede of thundering wildebeests to try to kill off his familial competition. Scar kills Mufasa as the king tries to rescue Simba from the stampede. Simba is left thinking it is he who caused his father's death. He flees the pridelands and meets up with an unlikely band of wisecracking friends – Timon the meerkat and Pumbaa the flatulent warthog.
Eventually, as Simba grows up he realizes he must return and save the pride from the evil Scar – which he does – and takes his rightful place as king in the eternal Circle of Life.
The box office recommends the production for ages 6 and older, though we saw plenty of kids younger than that in the audience. What's potentially scary or upsetting for more sensitive or younger audience members? Well, besides a parent dying and a fratricide staged with strobe lights (both bloodless, this is Disney after all) there's a somewhat creepy elephant graveyard and vaguely menacing hyenas (though Ed the hyena, with a perpetually lolling tongue and dopey demeanor, provides plenty of comic relief). When Simba topples Scar at the end it's quite loud and the hyenas fall upon the evil lion. All this said, it's a family friendly show based on a rated G movie.
Some practicalities: Sharpen your elbows and hone your inner Zen so you can make your way through dense lobby crowds with your sanity intact. Show merch includes an array of stuffies, tote bags, charm bracelets and baby T-shirts that say "I'm working on my roar."
The show runs two and a half hours including one 15-minute intermission. If you know you want an intermission snack or drink, I highly recommend pre-ordering; otherwise you'll never make it to and from the bathroom in time. (The line for the women's bathroom, on the basement level, snaked up the stairway at our show. We gave up and made a beeline for the top floor bathroom, which means more stair-climbing but shorter lines.) Even though we were in the concessions line a full half-hour before curtain there was just one slice left of our favorite treat, the Tom Douglas coconut cream pie for $8.
Parking in the lot on 7th and Pike is a good deal with an $8 flat rate for the evening show.
IF YOU GO
Where: The Paramount Theatre, 911 Pine St., Seattle.
When: Through April 6. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday evenings at 7:30 p.m.; Fridays at 8 p.m.; Saturdays at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.; Sundays at 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Additional matinee Thursday, April 3 at 1 p.m.
Cost: Tickets start at $42.
Contact: 877-784-4849; www.stgpresents.org and www.tickets.com. The Paramount Theatre box office is open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; 206-467-5510.
Lynn Schnaiberg is a Seattle-based freelance writer who has written for publications such as Outside and Hemispheres magazines.
