The Lion King
Location: The Lyceum Theatre
There are various instances where the world of theatre and the world of cinema have collided. Often the result is West End (or Broadway) musicals being adapted for the screen, with examples including Grease, Chicago and Mamma Mia!. However, there are other times when the show starts out as a movie and then winds up as a stage musical, including Billy Elliot, Dirty Dancing and Hairspray.
The Lion King is another of these examples, beginning life as a 1994 movie and eventually finding its way to a Broadway and West End stage. However, what sets it apart from the productions just mentioned is that the movie was an animated Disney picture about Lions and other African animals.
It’s a story everyone remembers either from their childhood or from taking their own children to see it at the cinema. We open with the famous scene where all of the animals of the Pride Land gather to witness the unveiling of Simba, the brand new lion cub who is son to King Mufasa. The sequence was made iconic in the movie as Elton John’s “The Circle of Life” played out over the visuals. From then on audiences around the world were gripped for 89 minutes as Simba’s life journey played out onscreen.
It’s no wonder we still remember this classic film, with its characters that are engraved in popular culture and its songs that are still sung even by those who have not seen the movie in some time. It also featured a voice cast consisting of James Earl Jones, Jonathon Taylor Thomas and Rowan Atkinson.
The stage version was born in the 1990s, when the musical arrived to great acclaim in the United States, before opening on Broadway’s New Ambassador’s Theatre in 1997. The critics loved it and in turn audiences flocked to see it. It made a West End version inevitable, and this arrived at the Lyceum Theatre in 1999 after much anticipation.
It retains the opening Circle of Life number, and like the movie follows Simba as he gets into trouble and grows up under the watchful eye of King Mufasa. However, when Mufasa is killed at the hands of Simba’s scheming uncle Scar, Simba is forced on the run. Despite blood being on the hands of his uncle, the young lion cub is convinced that it is his fault, meaning he turns his back on the Pride Land and grows old somewhere else.
Eventually however, Simba realises he must face his past and confront Scar once and for all.
Book you theatre tickets and catch The Lion King on the stage of Lyceum Theatre today. It is an unmissable treat.