Lion King Review

I went to watch the Lion King last night at the NBC Concert Hall. I've only heard stellar reviews of it so I was looking forward to a really great show.

First of all....for those of you who want to buy tickets at the last minute, my friend Grover gave me a good tip. He said that a day or two before each show, some prime seats open up because cast members who have free tix don't use them and they give them back for sale. I wanted to go to last night's show so I started to check since last week Friday for seats. On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, all they had were seats in the last 3 rows of both the orchestra and balcony, Rows X, Y, and Z. Then finally, Monday morning, BAM! I checked Ticketmaster online and found seats in Row K, house left! Sweet! Now, being the frugal guy that I am, I was trying to decide, should I just buy them online then to secure the tix or should I drive down to the box office to save me the excessive service charges? But I didn't want to risk losing the seats so I decided to buy them online. Good thing! Because just 20 minutes later, I checked again and the best seat available was back in Row Y. Whew! So if you're planning a last minute trip to see the show, I recommend trying this route, although you have to be really lucky.

Anyways....after dinner I got to the show and almost missed the first act. I literally had to run to make it to the door on time. Funny thing, the same thing also happened at intermission as a late bathroom break almost made me miss the beginning of the 2nd act! So be sure to give yourself enough time to get in cuz those ushers are really strict about getting in your seat on time!

As for the show....I have to say that I was not that impressed. Hearing all of the accolades before hand, I expected more out of it. I saw the original movie way back in the early 90s when it was released in theaters but I had no real recollection of it besides the few hit songs so I was pretty much going into this show with a fresh slate.

Overall, I found the show a bit slow and even boring at times. I just could never really get into it and there was no scene that gave me the "WOW!" factor like other shows I've seen. I've seen Phantom of the Opera in Los Angeles and Miss Saigon here in Honolulu and came out of those much more impressed. Miss Saigon was great and Phantom was just plain awesome. Lion King was a mere "okay" for me.

For one thing, I'm not really a fan of any of their signature songs. "Circle of Life", "Can You Feel the Love", and "Hakuna Matata" just don't come anywhere near the level of the famous songs of Phantom and Saigon. When the actors sang the songs in those 2 musicals, I felt chicken skin. Not once did I get that feeling in Lion King.

I also found the characters too plain and simple. I guess because it originates from a Disney movie...not really known for their complex characters. A little too kiddie-oriented as well. Although I did enjoy Pumbaa and Timon. They were pretty funny. But the story overall was just too simple and elementary and I didn't feel for any of the characters.

Nothing about the sets really wowed me either. There was no signature set that blew you away like the chandelier in Phantom or the helicopter in Saigon. The rotating cliff set pretty much was their signature piece and not all that impressive.

As for the positives...I thought the costumes were superb, especially all of the animal ones. I liked how they "hid" the Timon actor cuz all you did was concentrate on his puppet. And the giraffes, elephants, and other animals were really cool too. Hmm....what else. Oh yeah, the one scene with the thundering stampede was pretty well done. The actors also threw in a few lines that gave the show a "Hawaii" twist which were pretty funny.

At the end of the show, I was amazed that the audience gave the production a standing ovation. And people talking outside were saying stuff like they'd "come back to see it again tomorrow" and that it was the "best show they ever saw". I guess they enjoyed it a lot more than I did. I thought it was merely okay.

But I'm glad that these types of shows are making their way down to Honolulu. I do regret missing Le Mis when it was here a few years back so I hope they bring that back and really would love to see Phantom again.