North West appears in Lion King concert and Theatertok melts down

Last night, there was a special one of two-night only concerts celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Lion King movie at the Hollywood bowl in Los Angeles. Here's an article from Variety about it: 

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West's Daughter North West to Sing ‘I Just Can't Wait to Be King' at ‘Lion King' Concert (EXCLUSIVE) (msn.com)

I, unfortunately, made the mistake of commenting on one of the Tiktoks I read about it so now I am getting flooded with videos about the performance. All North West did was come out and sing along to "I Just Can't Wait to be King".  That's all. She didn't play Simba throughout the entire show. There wasn't even an entire show; it was just a concert, that will be recorded and broadcast on Disney+. 

I was struck at how confused people on Theater-tok are about the specifics of the show. The following comments were posted many, many times on multiple posts: 

-The Hollywood Bowl is the Broadway production of Lion King

-The Lion King's black creators expected black children like North West to perform in the show, so it's actually good she sang the song. (cough cough Julie and Elton) 

-many "real" actors out there would have loved to play the part of Simba, but North West's wealthy parents took the part away from them. 

-If you have wealthy enough parents, you can essentially buy your way into performing leading roles such as Simba in professional productions. 

-Kim and Kanye paid Disney enough money to convince Disney to have North sing the one song. 

Basically, people on Tiktok are treating this like a watershed moment in the history of nepotism in casting and they're not going to stand for it anymore. I feel that we have been living in a Kardashian world for a while now and we might as well accept it. Is this all that different from the stunt casting that goes on in a show like Chicago? Don't we fully expect someone like North West to be cast in Chicago in a few years? 

Ouchee. This iz ruff:

Updated On: 5/26/24 at 06:45 AM

I couldn’t think of anything worse , well Beyoncé getting her daughter into a Disney pic could come close. 

rosscoe(au) said: "I couldn’t think of anything worse , well Beyoncé getting her daughter into a Disney pic could come close."

If the parent is popular enough, people will let anything fly, even if they bring nothing unique to the product.

Phantom4ever said: "All North West did was come out and sing along to "I Just Can't Wait to be King". That's all.”

I was there and this was rough, to put it politely. I don’t want to blame the girl, because she’s only a child, but this was a professional production at the Hollywood Bowl and the audience paid expensive tickets to see accomplished performers singing those iconic songs, so there’s no excuse to include a girl who isn’t ready for the big game. I felt bad for her, but I also felt cheated by Disney.

The headlines (probably paid by her family) on Variety and THR make it seem like she got a standing ovation. In reality, the entire cast got a standing ovation at the end of the concert, so that’s technically correct, but her number only got polite applause by a confused audience. Everyone around me kept looking at each other in complete disbelief.

There are hundreds of talented black children in this country who were robbed of the opportunity of their lives when Disney decided to accept whatever they were offered to cast this poor girl. I can’t wait to see how they’re going to fix her vocal issues when the concert becomes available on Disney+. Good luck to whoever gets this thankless job.

Overall, the concert was a wonderful celebration of the work of thousands of artists who created these movies and the stage show. Unfortunately, it was also a sad reminder that fame and money can get a privileged few where they’re not supposed to be. Her performance would have been totally acceptable in a school production or a family reunion. Shame on her family for putting her on the spotlight like that, but then again, that’s the only lifestyle they know. I just wish we weren’t forced to witness it. And, by the way, most of the tickets were sold before she was even announced, so don’t say “you knew what you had signed up for.” We were all done dirty by Disney.

…Why exactly do we care about TheatreTok?

sherie_worshipper said: "KarenValentine'sheadband said: "My brother and his family and friends were there. He said the kids had fun and that's what it's about. He did say it was tough for the adults at times.



This is about parental narcissism and how we handle it. Nothing more. Yes money can get you anywhere in America but WE buy into it and praise those with it. This is our fault."

I get what you’re saying, but if Young Simbas and Nalas on Broadway didn’t know how to sing and dance, kids could theoreticallyhave fun too (though I wouldn’t treat kids with such condescension, because they know and deserve better) - butthat’s not what it’s about.There are young performers who could have done a better job, that’s what it’s about.

And let’s not blame ourselves as a society for this travesty, please. This is Disney’s fault. They should never have agreed to this."

 

I wasn't speaking of the kid/s. I was speaking about the parents. WE made them stars and $ for doing absolutely nothing. Kanye married into the untalented mess. 

 

This turned out to be an interesting event and I couldn't really tell who it was intended for. Both Elton John and Heather Headley referred to The Lion King as "the most valuable entertainment property on the planet."  We can quibble over the veracity of that, but it seems investor, executive, or Hollywood insider focused.  Fan-facing language uses words like "beloved". So, that was a bit jarring. The night also featured a new song from the upcoming Mufasa (performed by Lebo M) as well as its trailer. They didn't really seem to resonate. But, I think that was owing to the structure of the evening. Most of the event celebrated the original movie with Jennifer Hudson, Billy Eichner, and North West representing an attempt to capture the thirty years since.

It opened with a video from Elton John introducing the event and then went into the Broadway version of the opening number (it seemed that there were members of a previous TLK company as well as what had to be 30 LA commercial dancers). Jennifer Hudson then performed Circle of Life which went into the Live-to-Film scene of Scar and the mouse. That ran with the live orchestra playing the accompaniment to Just Can't Wait. The crowd went wild when the announcer introduced Jason Weaver, who came out, gave a very nice speech, introduced North West, and then left without singing. The crowd was definitely disappointed, which didn't help. The dance component of the number and the video were extraordinary. You can find videos of the performance and make your own judgement.  It went back to the movie until Be Prepared, which Jeremy Irons performed with the commercial dance company. It was an absolute highlight. The audience went WILD for it. The orchestra performed the underscore of the next few scenes to the film and then Jason Weaver, Ernie Sabella, and Nathan Lane did Hakuna Matata. There's a moment of this song that will prove to be the most charming part of the TV-version edit, giving 90s kids something they never really knew they wanted.  It was great, albeit the night's strongest reminder that we were there to celebrate a movie whose vocal performances were recorded more than thirty years ago. The end of the act went through the end of Can You Feel The Love Tonight which had no live performances. 

Act 2 opened with an Entre'acte that must have been a reuse of the Hakuna Matata orchestration as it seemed to be missing entire sections of melody. Rather than going back to the film, this is where they did the performances (in no particular order):

• The Lion Sleeps Tonight - Three dancers, Billy Eichner, and Nathan Lane
• A new song from Mufasa - Lebo M
• Spirit - The Choir 
• One By One - Lebo M and, I believe, former members of a Lion King The Musical Company.  
• Shadowland - Heather Headley and the lionesses from the Musical Company.
• Endless Night - A member of the Broadway company whose name I missed, but that the audience went ABSOLUTELY wild for. (This three-song segment of the show was worth the entire ticket fee).

They went back for the rest of the movie and after the finale of the movie, performed the finale for the Broadway version, which was truly astounding. At some point Jennifer Hudson came back and did Can You Feel The Love Tonight, but I don't remember where. They also showed the trailer for Mufasa somewhere in there, but it didn't feel like it registered because of the tug-and-pull of wanting to give the audience enough of a reason to pay for the performances (which wouldn't have comprised a whole evening.) Then there was a fireworks medley, with what felt like a little wink to the LAPhil's Tchaikowsky's fireworks shows buried in the brass orchestration. The whole thing was just above, if not over three hours with intermission. 

The Broadway material and Broadway performers fared the best. The audience around us didn't seem recognize Heather Headley, but they certainly appreciated her. It was the undeniable highlight (unless you're a Jennifer Hudson fan.) Endless Night was pretty high up there in things the audience went crazy for. 

I don't really know if it brought new fans to the legacy, turned anyone on to Mufasa, or will drive kids to watch the original, but everyone was wowed by the aspects of the Broadway production that were included. Which felt nice.

I'm glad we went, the weak spots were few and mostly covered by nostalgia.

(I suppose to be topic related: she was surrounded by 30(ish) of LA's best commercial dancers and the best choir and orchestra money could buy. That's a lot for a ten year old to hold their own against. The production picked her (undoubtedly for the marketing potential), but they did not set her up for success. Regardless of her innate abilities, they clearly didn't support her in a way that would have helped her be more successful. She needed more rehearsal, a less restrictive costume, and more handling. Mostly, she looked visibly uncomfortable. Which was sad, but the other aspects of the production helped it overcome even the abysmal Lion Sleeps Tonight segment.)

Updated On: 5/26/24 at 07:19 PM

Play Esq. said: "Reminding me of the (amazing…) Renaissance tour. Poor thing couldn’t keep up with the incredible talent on stage, especially her mother. Clearly, talent is not inherited.

I will say she improved throughout the tour."

When did this thread go from Kardashian’s kid to Beyoncé’s? Topic is about North West not Blue Ivy Carter. They’re not the same little girl, folks. 

Every day, TheatreTok just proves more and more that it doesn't care about theatre and just wants to be a place where it's permissible to cyberbully children.

It looks like North had fun, which is good. Her performance was not even close to adequate, and that is not her fault but the fault of the people who allowed it.