Lion King

On the 18^th of November, the Musical theatre classes, Year 1, 2 and the Year 1 drama class went to see the Lion King Performance at the Lyceum Theatre. The Lion King is based on the Disney movie which is famous for its ability to connect all ages and that you are never too old to forget this movie.

Having seen the Lion King once before, I had expected the musical to be electrifying and extravagant. However, at the very beginning of the performance, Rafiki – the baboon – was not as powerful as I had remembered. In addition to this, although I had enjoyed re-living my childhood memories, especially with the music; the performance overall was not as good as I had seen in Year 4. In other words, it was not able to top the first time I had experienced the musical. I personally thought that the characters Timon and Pumba kept the connection with the audience alive as they had related with the generation. Furthermore Zazu had used the song ‘Let it Go’, which is known by many due to the movie ‘Frozen’, which suggests that the play is always changing and can always adapt to current events.

The use of the props was absolutely incredible and was as good as I remember. The use of the Mufasa face was quite creative as in the after show interview with the actors and puppet designer, it was said that there were magnets on the 9-piece face. This prop had impressed me due to the fact that it was very creative and very abstract.

After the show, we were lucky enough to have a talk with the characters Nala and Zazu which revealed the reality of musicals is. The fact that they had to perform 8 times a week is let alone amazing itself as it portrayed that they were very passionate about their career and were willing to keep going for years on end. In addition, it was said that the audition process is tougher than you think and no matter how many rejections you have the industry, according to the actor of Zazu is always take a chance or opportunity.