The Lion King National Tour- Tampa Review

[florida theatre kid]

Posted: 6/5/08 at 3:50pm

TBPAC does not usually offer student rush tickets for most of the Broadway tours, however,they are for The Lion King. Even though I didn't really have a huge interest in seeing this show, I decided to take advantage of the oppurtunity. I ended up getting 10th row, dead center for $37.50. The audience had about 700 people, which looks pretty sad in a 2500 seat house. I knew seven weeks was way too long for this show to stop in Tampa.

The Lion King is a story we are all too familiar with. It's cheesy and predictable. Since the story is not life-changing, this show relies very much on the actual "production", meaning the company and visual aspect. Last night, the performance was very hit or miss in these aspects. The last time I saw The Lion King was six years ago, when I was 11. I remember being absolutely blown away by the costumes, scenery, and lighting back then. The costumes are still very beautiful, but the scenery and lighting seemed to scaled down for this production. The sets were very noisy when the moved and looked like they could break at any second.

The ensemble dancers all looked bored to death last night. They could use some SERIOUS clean up rehearsals since none of the dances were together last night. They all looked sloppy and unrehearsed, and as I said, just plain bored out of their mind.

The ensemble singers is where the true magic in the show was last night. This cast is composed of arguably some of the best vocalists out there. The vocals in the big group numbers such as "Circle of Life" and "One By One" were amazing. Moya Angela as Rafiki was very funny and had an amazing voice to go along with it, Andre Jackson as Simba was giving this performance 110% and had a great voice. The two kid lions in the show had great energy and were very fun. The show, however, was stolen by Dan'Yelle Williamson as Nala. Homegirl can SING! Her "Shadowland" gave me huge goosebumps and was worth the price of admission alone. Definitely the highlight of the show. She's a Tampa native too and went to my high school, so that was kind of cool to see an alumni perform.

Even though I felt the show was lacking in some areas last night, it was still a very enjoyable night of theatre, and you can't help but smile during the "Circle of Life" finale.

[StuckToTheStage]

Posted: 6/5/08 at 4:11pm

Thanks for the review. Seven weeks?! That's crazy.

Posted: 6/5/08 at 4:30pm

What a shame. I've seen this show several times in NYC and on the road and it is one show that has always been T-I-G-H-T. I've never noticed even one ensemble member phoning it in.

[SpellingBeeFan4Ever]

Posted: 6/12/08 at 10:30am

Sorry to hear about the ensemble. Seeing it next week when I'm there.