The Lion King - Lyceum Theatre, London

It's hard to keep an action man happy.  My soon to be son-in-law is used to fast cars so we knew his first experience of West End theatre had to be good, writes Carla Delaney.

It is fitting that we chose a show which has the lion's share of audiences in London even in its tenth year.

Millions have marvelled at the Lion King at the Lyceum Theatre which wins all the prizes for staging, puppetry and imagination in my opinion and is just as fresh now as it was when it premiered in 1999.

It was a pleasure watching John Gray lap up the show at the Lyceum Theatre and keep on the edge of the seat the way he does in motorsport.

“It was brilliant, he said.  “I didn’t realise theatre could be that good.  I thought it was likely to be a childish show but I was completely wrong.  Nothing could prepare me for this fantastic show.”

He thrilled at every spectacle cleverly devised by Julie Taymor  who rightly won a Tony Award® for’ Best Director of a Musical’ for her mastery of puppetry, mask, and movement .

Without giving too much away I can say we were ideally placed to experience the wonder of a life-size elephant off stage and I witnessed the awe on faces of children and adults used to computer wizardry who supplied thunderous applause at the end as loud as the stampede central to the story. 

The original score from the animated film was expanded for the stage and now features 15 musical numbers. South African composer Lebo M, as well as writing completely new songs, has created an evocative blend of African rhythms and chorales which skilfully match the Western score by Elton John and Tim Rice. 

‘The Lion King’ follows the adventures of the young lion cub Simba, as he struggles to accept the responsibilities of adulthood and his destined role of King. 

Even though I have seen other shows I felt a tingle down the spine when the Lion King took to the darkened star lit stage and sang about the wonders of the past to his wayward cub.  I mourned at the treachery he encountered at the paws of a supposed loved one which made me think about the problems we all encounter in real life.

The beauty of this show is that you take from it what you can and dig deeper if you want to.
The London company of 46 performers is led by 11 principals: George Asprey as Scar, Shaun Escoffery as Mufasa, Stephen Matthews as Zazu, Brown Lindiwe Mkhize as Rafiki, Nick Mercer as Timon, Keith Bookman as Pumba, Andile Gumbi as Simba, Gloria Onitiri as Nala, Gary Forbes as Banzai, Allyson Addo as Shenzi and Mark Sangster as Ed. 

Our slight disappointment during the matinee performance we saw was that the child who played young Simba didn’t have has much sparkle as the young girl who played the female cub Nala.  But their grown up counterparts made up for the tiny lapse by Disney Theatrical Productions. 

It was enjoyable to hear the famous Academy Award winning Can You Feel The Love Tonight and the haunting Shadowland and I can’t wait for my grandchildren to be old enough to hear it too.  I am not ashamed to say that I will volunteer every time one of the children or grown ups asks for someone to accompany them to the Lion King – long may it rule.

 Photo: by Johan Persson CDisney