Live Lion King Entertaining

Marko Durovic, Staff Writer

Prior to The Lion King, I had only been to one musical and slept through it; so when I heard I would be going to see the Disney epic, I was skeptical. I thought, “Great, two more hours of sleep than usual.”

Most have watched Disney’s film version The Lion King at least once in their life, but because I am such a huge fan I have watched it at least 15 times. Even so, I didn’t want to see it live and would have rather stayed at home watching TV.

However, I realized how wrong I was as soon as it started. It was energetic. The actress who played Rafiki, the monkey priest, grabbed the audience’s attention by yelling the entirety of the show. She portrayed the old, crazy monkey from the film perfectly. The child actors playing the cubs, Simba and Nala, were also amazing performers.

The interaction with the audience was a big part of the musical. Actors were cleverly placed among the rows of seats. At several points in the show, they climbed out of the audience and onto the stage.

Although the costumes didn’t look spectacular, they were certainly unique. They looked like nothing I have ever seen before. The scenery was even better. Pride Rock looked amazing and the elephant graveyard was just as scary as it was the first time I watched the movie as a kid.

Before the play, I kept thinking “Another classic ruined,” but I couldn’t have been more wrong. The Lion King is definitely a must-see and is a unique and fun way to experience the movie everybody loves.