The Lion King Musical

Given the excellent description by Jeremy of the musical earlier, I was initially planning to skip my review of this. But here I am, with some brief notes on my part about the show (caught on 8 April).

With much anticipation, backed by the good reviews so far from friends, I stepped into the theatre expecting to be ‘wow’ed by the production.
Indeed, I was exhilarated by the opening when all the animals came trudging down the aisle. It nearly brought tears of excitement into my eyes. I think if I were a child, I would be squealing or speechless with wonder. The sets and costumes were simply fantastic. Giraffes (on stilts), cheetahs, elephants, lions, African birds, antelopes, etc. The African safari all here, on the ‘Sandy’ shores of Singapore. I was particularly intrigued by the lion headgears that could bend at will when the lions were in their lion stance to act like masks, yet rest perfectly on their heads when they were speaking normally. The movements and choreography was excellent too, plus some use of shadow play.

However, maybe I had my expectations too hyped up. It was good, though it didn’t exactly “overwhelm” me. I felt the singing on my night wasn’t so good. Nala seemed to have a somewhat dry throat that night. Nevertheless, I felt that the best singer for that night was the one who played Mufasa. He was as Mufasa should be, strong, wise and mature, yet also loving. I liked Rafiki too. Amusing. The songs weren’t as memorable as I had hoped, except for some of the more familiar songs. Not that they were not good, as I enjoyed the rhythms for the more African-styled songs. They just didn’t stick as well.

As an additional note, it was amusing to note the use of Chinese words like “谢谢” during the show. Well, I guess a lot of times, this happens to cater to the local audience.

So, is it worth the money to watch this? Yes, even if it’s just for the colour and spectacular sights. Oh, I also heard it’s been extended again and will be moving to a bigger theatre.