|
|
|
|
|
The Lion King Birmingham Hippodrome ***** SPECTACULAR, wonderful, brilliant,
magnificent. majestic, bostin' – take your pick, any superlative will
do. This is a show about costumes, design, special
effects and above all imagination; first on the part of Walt Disney to
conceive and transform a successful animated film to the stage and
second on the part of an audience to see past the puppets and masks and
believe. We get a one man operated near life-size elephant
trundling down an aisle - the aisles are merely an extension to the
stage - then there are giant loping giraffes which your head tells you
are men on stilts but your heart convinces you that they are roaming the
veldt.
There are birds, fabric attached to wires on
poles says your head but in your heart it is a whole flock of
exotic African wildlife swooping across the aisles and from the boxes
across the vast expanse of the . . . well Hippodrome really, but you
know what I mean. There is clever lighting from Donald Holder, a silently gliding Pride Rock, a huge elephant's graveyard and even a stampede of wildebeest. It is a difficult feat to work on stage but Richard Hudson’s scenic design and the fabulous masks, puppets and costumes from director Julie Taymor and Michael Curry give an illusion which manages to build tension and excitement through to its dramatic climax. There were elements of Chinese theatre with a
giant screen and shadow fights in the final showdown between the
lionesses and hyenas and choreographer Garth Fagin - and the cast -
deserves some credit for keeping the massed ranks of animals in
fights and chases apart particularly in the opening and closing numbers.
The Hippodrome stage is huge but with those numbers milling around in
body puppets and with mechanical extended headdresses a train wreck must
always be only a few steps out of place away.
The show opens as his new son, Simba is presented
to his loyal subjects. A happy family scene except for the king’s
brother Scar, deliciously played as a rather tongue-in-cheek baddy by
Stephen Carlile. As all good baddies, Scar has to throw in a bit
of evil to keep up appearances so he uses treachery and an alliance
with the hyenas, to do in the king and send Simba off into exile and
hopefully his death. Simba, incidentally, is Swahili for lion.
The hyenas, Shenzi, Gbemisola Ikumelo, Banzai,
Daniel Norford and Ed, Philip Oakland, are great fun and mix the
difficult task of being both sinister and threatening one minute with
being pantomime baddies the next with great skill. With Scar running Pride Lands into the dust,
surrounded by famine and drought we are nicely set up for the great
battle of good against evil at the end when Simba, encouraged by Nala,
his childhood sweetheart, or should that be lionheart, returns to claim
his throne. Nala, played on Press night by Donica Elliston as
the cub and then by the feisty Carole Stennett as a lioness, provides
the love interest and perhaps the best known song of the show from Elton
John and Tim Rice, Can You Feel The Love Tonight which has been
covered by everyone from Neil Diamond to S Club. Cleveland Cathnott gives us another musical highlight with the emotive They Live in You, from Mark Mancina, Jay Rifkin and Lebo M while another big production number is provided by Carole Stennett with the stirring anthem, Shadowlands. Singing credits though have to go to the simply
wonderful Gugwana Diamini as Rafiki, the Mandril. We perhaps have the likes of Paul Simon and
Ginger Baker for introducing us the the primitive beauty of African
music and she has a voice which you could well believe was its soul.
You could listen to her all night from her
introduction to the show with Nants’ Igonyama (There comes a lion)
from Hans Zimmer and Lebo M and Elton John and Tim Rice’s Circle of
Life to its reprise at the close. There are also various African chants from Lebo M
for the effective Grasslands and lionesses and chants for Rafiki’s by Tsidii
Le Loka. The brilliant Gugwana Dlamini, another South African who hails from Durban as Rafiki There are notable contributions as well from
Meilyr Sion as Zazu the hornbill, the king’s advisor with a nice
collection of one liners. The real comedy comes in the rather large shape
of Pumbaa the flatulent warthog though, played for all the laughs going
by Mark Roper along with the wisecracking Timon the meerkat played by
John Hasler. Disney will probably not appreciate my saying it but Timon
could be a long lost cousin of a certain well-known wabbit . . . if you
see what I mean, Doc. The pair are genuinely funny and it is funny how
quickly you forget that the two actors operating them are patently
obvious and just see and believe the puppets. The sound was an issue at times, with words in
songs not always clear, but with a three month run that should be
sorted. A mention to for an excellent orchestra under Jon
Ranger with special mention for Will Fry and Adam Kovacs in boxes at
either side of the auditorium surrounded by all manner of drums, cymbals
and both modern and ethnic percussion instruments giving their own extra
show. Spectacular, wonderful, brilliant, magnificent –
and to that you can add an experience not to be missed. Roger Clarke
|
|
|
|
