Has THE LION KING lost its quan or did we catch a bad night? — Page 2

It is a huge hit, I'll grant you that. Whether or not it's good is a matter of personal taste. I personally didn't like it, but that's my opinion.

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I saw the show in september and even though I had some idea of what visuals were comming next I sitll liked it. But, I find it amazing that its been playing for close to ten years and it hasn't yet once been on the tkts window. Also, I have heard rumors of disney wanting to buy the Minskoff from the Nederlanders because the lion king is playing there and all other disney shows aside from poppins are playing at Nederlander houses.

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Dodger, I'd suggest taking hte other nieces and nephews to Mary Poppins.

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Saw it last summer and was very disappointed. The singing was off, they couldn't hit the right notes. The story seemed to drag. And we got hit by one of the bird puppets.

Take the kids to Mary Poppins!

Mary Poppins is awesome and I suggest you take the rest to Mary Poppins. This time of year, tickets are easy to get Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Cheap seats are on the balcony, and they all have great views.

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"Yes so I don't see why people are complaining, it's still a huge hit so everyone should stop complaining about it losing its shine because it's far from it."

So if a show has been sold out by people who bought tickets sometimes up to a year in advance, it's OK that the cast half asses the performance because they're SOLD OUT? Come on now.

I will agree with most of the comments here, the first time I saw it on Broadway in '99. It was magic. Still fluff, there is no way around that with a Disney show, but it was well done artistic fluff with solid performances by the entire cast. Saw it again in '06 and couldn't believe that the cast, especially the ensemble could even get away with such a half assed performance. It was awful. I agree if you haven't seen it before the visuals might be enough to take your mind off of the poor acting, singing, and dancing. But if you have seen it before, the poor acting, singing, and dancing, is ALL you see. When I say poor, I mean it's just not tight or sharp anymore, the cast is obviously a talented group otherwise they wouldn't be there, but maybe they're saving there talents for other projects, because they sure weren't using them in the Lion King the last time I saw it, with the exception of Zazu (who was an understudy) and Patrick Page as Scar who is always solid.

It's time for a brush up rehearsal Lion King, and I ain't talkin about a 2 hour one either. You owe it to the people who are payin' $100+ a ticket and the kids who are seeing it for the first time and are looking for more than lights and costumes.

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Updated On: 2/22/07 at 10:23 AM

What the hell is "quan?"

It's always been, like every Disney show, a matter of style over substance. Considering what Taymor had to work with, she pulled more rabbits out of hats than the material was worth, and she did so with an invention that hadnt been seen on Broadway in many years. Disney certainly owes her big time for this one.

But like everyhting else, it's going to get sloppy. Actors will cut corners, dancers will slide through numbers. As someone pointed out, the show's sold out for some time to come, so I imagine after a while, folks think, "Hey, what am I working my butt off for up here? I can coast a bit."

And the fact that it's still capacity, even in this condition, says more, IMHO, about your average theatre goer than anything else. People paying a hundred-plus bucks for a less than magnificent evening of theatre... well, I guess they get what they pay for, in some respects.

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The Lion King seems to be ultimate "love it or hate it" show. I saw it in 2000, and hated it. Yes, Circle of Life was good, but after that, it was a giant, overblown bore.

I remember clearly being able to see the faces of the "actors" playing the three hyenas. They were blank faces, completely emotionless, with their eyes scanning the audience blindly in the middle of their songs and dialogue...we even made eye contact several times. It was like a silent cry for help on both ends.

:) My thoughts exactly. But those aren't the thoughts that should stick with me after $95 and a night at the hottest ticket in town.

I have to agree with most of the posts. I first saw it in 1999 from the Front Row of the Front Mezz, and was totally blown away with it. The opening # made me weep. I went back with a friend who had never seen it before, we sat 5th row center in the orchestra, and we were bored to death. I think once you have seen the marvel of it, and it is marvelous. You sit back and watch the show, and realize thats its a bad book, bad script performed by bored actors.... I should have left it with only one viewing, and kept the idea that it was a work of art. My Bad.

Good topic! This is something I've been wanting to discuss for awhile but never really posted anything about it. I've thought the same thing for years. I saw the show for the second time in the spring of 02 and thought "Man this has gotten messy since I last saw it." I saw Lion King for the first time in the summer of 00 and loved it. It was different, it was funny and it was striking. Then when my theatre department took a trip to NYC and went to see Lion King(After convincing our chair to take us to Rocky Horror the year before and completely alienating/possible offending the entitre communications faculty and students) due to getting a "great" package deal.

Needless to say I still regret the fact I didn't skip out on King and see The Goat, but I had already paid for the trip and the price included King tickets....but I digress.

But sitting through the show I was totally underwhelmed. Partly due to the horrible balcony seats but mostly due to what seemed to be a generally apathetic cast. The dancing was sloppy and the entire thing seemed off.

For years I accredited this to them being a hit so long they didn't feel the need or were blind to the fact that they had gotten comfertable in their hit and realized that due to name recognition alone, they had a hit no matter what. At the time I really felt they should bring back Taymor and Garth to tighten the ship. But I don't know if thats the problem really. I think the problem lies with repeat viewings. It shows that the material is really really flimsy and the entire driving force of the show is Taymor's unique direction and vision and Fagan's exciting dance. But once you get past that and know what to expect, the show loses it's luster. Once the magic is expected a show needs to rely on a strong foundation to support it and keep bringing the people back. Well thank god Disney can rely on their name and the name LION KING, because that is their foundation and not good sorce material.

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