In the summer of 2008, my classmates and I sat down at the Minskoff Theatre-worst seats in the house-after an extremely long day of traveling and walking. My fellow 8th grade class, knowing I was the theatre nerd of the group, and I couldn’t wait for my very first Broadway show to begin. I was completely enthralled by the singing, the costumes, the set, the lighting, and when I turned to my friends after the show ended to discuss the peice of pure art we had all just witnessed, I was disappointed to see I was the only one still awake. It didn’t matter, I still count myself lucky to have seen The Lion King on Broadway.
The stage version of The Lion King is famous for Julie Taymor’s mastermind in puppetry and unique cultural awareness to bringing these characters to life. I wanted to make sure we kept the authenticity of the original production while incorporating new ideas to fulfill such a large and talented cast. The beauty of theatre is that we are able to give the audience a taste of what we mean with just a mask, just our movement, or just a puppet, and the audience gets to fill in the rest with their own imagination. There is no need to have actors walking around on all fours or scratching their claws constantly, it would actually look even sillier. We imply, we create, we suggest, and the audience takes the rest of the journey with us.
Enjoy the story, the music, and the characters we all know and love, and see it in a new way onstage here with CCT and this brilliant cast. Thank you!
~Austin
