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| Lion King in Altria |
Mesmerizing. Even the word does not do justice with what we just watched in Altria. Disney's Lion King is what imaginations and fantasies are made of. Not just that, it paints a world for you and leaves small portions for you to fill with your own imagination and make it real. I have not seen a Broadway show except Chicago, which was fantastic, but Lion King is just another level.
I was interested in this show since the first time I heard about it many years ago, but never got a chance. The closest I got to watching was last year when I reached the ticket window at Minksoff theatre, and was told that show is houseful. So when I heard that show is coming to Richmond, I was ready to pounce on it. Lion king musical without a New York visit and easy on the wallet. BLISS.
The venue
First something about the venue. We reached almost 50 minutes before the weekday show, but parking near Altria is kind of tricky. We parked in nearby parking garage with event parking charges ($8). It was almost houseful. The Will Call lines were much longer than the current ticket line. We managed to get two balcony tickets (39$ each, that's super deal). The Altria theater is one of the oldest performing arts theatre in Richmond and was formerly known as The Mosque and The Landmark. The seats in the balcony are small but comfortable. A big or very tall person may struggle due to seat size or leg room, but for all others it should do just fine.
The Play
The play started with Rafiki's voice and the famous 'Circle of Life'. First the orange sun slowly came up just like in the movie, and then the animals showed up. Elephant, Rhino, deer, zebras, birds and on top of the hill Mufasa, Sarabi, Rafiki and Simba. There was no animation or cutting edge technology. Everything was achieved with puppets, characters, drapes, live orchestra and combination of lights. The whole theatre erupted with applause. It was unbelievable to see such response in very first scene.
Every scene after that was fantastic, like pride lioness hunting antelope, the set of elephant graveyard, young Simba and Nala trying to get away from Zazu. Every scene was appreciated by the audience. The master class again was the scene where Wilder beasts run in and Scar pushes Mufasa in the gorge. The scene was made powerful with flashes of light and a slow motion fall. By this point, we were not seeing the puppets or actors playing animals, we were engrossed in the characters. The characters of Timon and Pumbaa arrived with the anthem 'Hakuna Matata'. Their friendship with young Simbaa blossomed with the song, and voila! the young Simba vanished and a adult Simbaa jumps from a rope and the theatre again erupted.
A fifteen minute break followed by song "One by One" with characters dancing to the tunes. The inclusion of animal bones in scenes easily conveyed the message how Pridelands destroyed under King Scar. There were no dearth of funny moments too. Timon and Pumbaa's cheeky jokes made us laugh. Disney even played a joke on itself, when Zazu sings 'Let it Go' and Scar warns him 'No more of this'.
The biggest moment of second act was when Rafiki shows Simba his reflection in water. I am still in awe of the way they brought lighted shapes together and turned into giant face of Mufasa. The whole theater applauded the way it was done so perfectly. The last few scenes were again true to the movie, and fight scenes between the Pride and Hyenas were performed really well. The last scene again brought back 'Circle of Life' and all the characters (except elephant) to the stage.
The whole unit got standing applause for long. Every character was applauded with claps and cheers. Audience was so much attached to the play that when actor who played Scar appeared there were a few boos hidden in applause. Mufasa got bigger applause than Simba.
The show was mesmerizing. Nothing we have ever seen before. It is now our new benchmark to assess shows, which is definitely not a good news for all new shows we going to watch.
I was interested in this show since the first time I heard about it many years ago, but never got a chance. The closest I got to watching was last year when I reached the ticket window at Minksoff theatre, and was told that show is houseful. So when I heard that show is coming to Richmond, I was ready to pounce on it. Lion king musical without a New York visit and easy on the wallet. BLISS.
The venue
First something about the venue. We reached almost 50 minutes before the weekday show, but parking near Altria is kind of tricky. We parked in nearby parking garage with event parking charges ($8). It was almost houseful. The Will Call lines were much longer than the current ticket line. We managed to get two balcony tickets (39$ each, that's super deal). The Altria theater is one of the oldest performing arts theatre in Richmond and was formerly known as The Mosque and The Landmark. The seats in the balcony are small but comfortable. A big or very tall person may struggle due to seat size or leg room, but for all others it should do just fine.
The Play
The play started with Rafiki's voice and the famous 'Circle of Life'. First the orange sun slowly came up just like in the movie, and then the animals showed up. Elephant, Rhino, deer, zebras, birds and on top of the hill Mufasa, Sarabi, Rafiki and Simba. There was no animation or cutting edge technology. Everything was achieved with puppets, characters, drapes, live orchestra and combination of lights. The whole theatre erupted with applause. It was unbelievable to see such response in very first scene.
Every scene after that was fantastic, like pride lioness hunting antelope, the set of elephant graveyard, young Simba and Nala trying to get away from Zazu. Every scene was appreciated by the audience. The master class again was the scene where Wilder beasts run in and Scar pushes Mufasa in the gorge. The scene was made powerful with flashes of light and a slow motion fall. By this point, we were not seeing the puppets or actors playing animals, we were engrossed in the characters. The characters of Timon and Pumbaa arrived with the anthem 'Hakuna Matata'. Their friendship with young Simbaa blossomed with the song, and voila! the young Simba vanished and a adult Simbaa jumps from a rope and the theatre again erupted.
A fifteen minute break followed by song "One by One" with characters dancing to the tunes. The inclusion of animal bones in scenes easily conveyed the message how Pridelands destroyed under King Scar. There were no dearth of funny moments too. Timon and Pumbaa's cheeky jokes made us laugh. Disney even played a joke on itself, when Zazu sings 'Let it Go' and Scar warns him 'No more of this'.
The biggest moment of second act was when Rafiki shows Simba his reflection in water. I am still in awe of the way they brought lighted shapes together and turned into giant face of Mufasa. The whole theater applauded the way it was done so perfectly. The last few scenes were again true to the movie, and fight scenes between the Pride and Hyenas were performed really well. The last scene again brought back 'Circle of Life' and all the characters (except elephant) to the stage.
The whole unit got standing applause for long. Every character was applauded with claps and cheers. Audience was so much attached to the play that when actor who played Scar appeared there were a few boos hidden in applause. Mufasa got bigger applause than Simba.
The show was mesmerizing. Nothing we have ever seen before. It is now our new benchmark to assess shows, which is definitely not a good news for all new shows we going to watch.
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| Blurred pic of complete cast at the end of the show |
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