After nine years of sold-out performances, six Tony Awards and 200 puppets, The Lion King is still entertaining audiences, stirring up theatrical controversy and setting theater-goers back three digits per ticket.
The acclaimed Broadway show opened in Raleigh Sept. 15, as part of the Broadway Series South. The six-week limited engagement will be performed at the Raleigh Memorial Auditorium until its close Oct. 22.
Although the show has been extremely popular on Broadway and around the world, some theater traditionalists are wary of the Disney-led evolution of American musical theater.
"Now most big musicals are remakes of movies," said John Clum, chair of the Theater Studies department. "The reason is that musicals are now so expensive to produce that they take a couple of years of sellout business to break even. No one can afford to gamble on something truly original or challenging."
The Lion King, known for its elaborate costumes and scenery, is certainly no exception to the rule of rising costs of production. There are more than 200 puppets used in the show, requiring two 48-foot semitrailer trucks to transport them across the country. Together, the masks and puppets took 17,000 hours to build.
Add in the labor necessary to maintain the costumes, scenery and lighting, and the show employs the efforts of 143 people on a daily basis.
Audiences are the ones who bear the burden of such elaborate production-tickets to the current Raleigh performance can cost up to $126 at face value.
One aim of shows delivering animation-driven, Broadway-caliber entertainment is to transform an upper-class outing into a fun-filled family affair. Appealing to a wider audience can help bridge the gap between neophyte and connoisseur.
However, critics like Clum remain skeptical. "I can't see any positive effects [except for Disney's coffers] of turning a musical cartoon into a stage musical," Clum said. "And I'm not sure audiences for Disney musicals then become interested in anything else but more mindless Disney musicals."
The so-called magic of The Lion King stems from artistic use of its costly elements rather than from a satirical message or lyrics chalk-full of political commentary. Under the direction of Julie Taymor-the first woman in Broadway history to win a Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical-the show employs a number of international art forms in an effort to create a work of high art.
Taymor took inspiration for the masks from traditional African styles that are both artistic and socially important, she said in a press release. The puppets in The Lion King are also reminiscent of Japanese Bunraku puppetry. As is the practice in traditional Bunraku performance, the audiences of The Lion King are able to see the puppeteers.
"When the human spirit visibly animates an object, we experience a special, almost life-giving connection," Taymor said. "We become engaged by both the method of storytelling as well as the story itself."
Scenery from the movie, such as Pride Rock and Elephant Graveyard, is vividly rendered and adds a colorful dimension to the performance.
"The scenery, costumes and puppets are beautiful, but as one critic said about another show many years ago, 'You can't sing the scenery,'" Clum said.
But not all critics abhor The Lion King's soundtrack-it won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album. The music is also flavored with African flair (if you ignore the five songs by Elton John and lyricist Tim Rice).
The debate over whether The Lion King is an artistic masterpiece or an example of Broadway being dumbed-down by corporate movie studios may never end. But thanks to traveling companies, audiences in the Triangle can finally make up their own mind on the matter-assuming they can stomach paying three figures to see 39 hyenas, a couple blades of grass and some fancy puppeteering.
The Lion King shows at the Raleigh Memorial Auditorium through Oct. 22. Tickets are $29 to $126.50. For more information, call 919-831-6060 or visit www.broadwayseriessouth.com.
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