Lion King musical - what's it like?

[badhairday]

The show is awesome! The music and characters are fantastic. Just saw it at the Academy of Music last Thursday. We saw it in NYC, but wanted to go again since it was local.

FYI - Make sure that your tickets are not up too close. I would say you want to be in at least row 15 or even back further to enjoy the stage and effects. We were in the front row (DDD seats 1 to 11, and visibility was not the greatest. Seats 7, 9 & 11 were obstructed.

They have a platform on top of the stage, and huge speakers on either side. It is built up higher than normal, and the orchestra is as well. When we purchased, we purchased Premium seats, and were really disappointed since we could not see too well at all. Even if you were up in the mezzanine, the view would be beautiful.

Disney is actually giving us tickets for another show due to the obstructed view.

I think you will really, really enjoy the show! Have FUN!

 

[Lizzybee]

I got nosebleed seats in Chicago so I could treat my kids and my mom to the show. We ADORED the show! We felt our seats were great, even though we were one row from the back literally. We could see everything and it was spectacular. It's a fairly small venue (Cadillac Palace Theater) and on my one income, the seats we got were the most I could get. It was so worth it. The costumes and artistry are truly amazing and the performers were top notch.

 

[mmlovers90]

I saw it in Chicago two years ago as a birthday gift from DH for my 39th birthday. He got us 6th row aisle seats (could have had front but they recommended to sit back a bit for better viewing plus the aisle...well, it was very special, won't ruin it). It was THE most amazing thing I have ever seen. I was not totally gaga for the movie but the play was incredible. I am not an emotional person (unless you count anger, LOL!) but I actually cried at the end of the song the circle of life, it was that moving! I would see it again in a heart beat! Of course, with tax and all our two tickets were $250 so it was not cheap but it was one of the best birthdays I ever had!

 

[suezb]

Wow, I must be the only person who wasn't all that enthralled by it!!! I did enjoy the costumes, and I even purchased a Simba doll for myself. However, it's not something I would go see again; it was very difficult for me to stay awake the whole time.
I think the problem I had with it, was it's exactly like the movie. That's bad for me, because I didn't enjoy the movie! It was lacking something, and that carried over to the musical.
So, if you liked the movie, I think you'll really enjoy the musical. As I said, I did like the costumes and such, I'm just not a fan of the story line. If you're like me and didn't like the cartoon, it's probably best not to waste your money.

My Simba doll is totally cute, though! I love that thing

 

[buzzgirls&dad]

After reading all these wonderful posts about the Lion King I am really excited to see it. Unfortunately, I have to wait until Mother's Day of '07 as that is when it is coming to Wisconsin. Thankfully we already have our tickets. Can't wait.

 

[THESCHULTZFIVE]

There were good points and bad points. The bad points are it's difficult to see some of the action very close to actual stage itself, but being able to see the amazing details of the costumes and the small nuances of the characters is great, there's definite perks to being close, I'll tell you that! But it's hard to say how much you or the children might miss at the very back of the stage because I've never seen the theater in Philly or how high the stage is, or deep.

The best tip I can give is if you are at your seats and the stage is higher than your shoulders, try to find an all-adult party to switch with to move back a little, maybe to row 10. I'm 5'2, the stage was at my shoulders at the amsterdam, and I could see everything if I craned my neck at certain points only, probably 90% of the show was just fine. If the stage was any higher though I would have missed a lot.

Thanks. We saw the show last night and loved it!!!! My girls did great during the show. Even the little one loved it. Well she loved the first Act and then fell asleep right as the second half began. I'm glad we bought those tickets. The only thing I remember DD9 saying she couldn't see was when Timon and Pumba find Simba and he's laying on the ground. But we all knew what was going on b/c of the movie. I would definitely see it again.

 

[disneysailor]

I'm an usher at a theater here in CT so I just saw the show about 7 times. I would highly recommend watching the movie again right before going to see the show. My FIL had never seen the movie and couldn't figure out what was going on. If you're going with young children explain to them that the characters in the show are puppets and people, not the cartoon characters they see in the movie. It is a long show compared to most, so be sure this is something your children would enjoy. The costumes, staging and backdrops are amazing. I was lucky enough to take a backstage tour, and it is the detail that goes into everything is spectacular.

DO NOT BE LATE. There is a hold at the beginning of the show and you definately DON'T want to miss the beginning!!!! Enjoy!

 

[Karibeth19]

I saw it last night, and it was fantastic!!! The only problem is that I teared up so much during the opening and the ending, the stage was all blurry and I couldn't see anything! "The Circle of Life" always makes me cry.

It was great and I highly recommend it!

 

[disneysailor]

Some fun facts:
There are more than 200 puppets in the show, including rod puppets, shadow puppets, and full-sized puppets.

There are 25 kinds of animals, birds, fish, and insects represented.

It took 17,000 hours to build the puppets and masks

Mufasa's mask weighs 11 ounces, Scar's 9.

The tallest animals are the 18 ft. giraffes seen in " I just can't wait to be king." The tiniest is the trick mouse at the end of Scar's cane- 5 " The longest is an elephant 13' ong 11'3" high and 9' wide at the ears. It collapses down to 34" wide to go down the aisle in the theaters.

300' of carbon fiber and 750 lbs. of silicone rubber were used to make the masks.

The Timon puppet weighs 15 lbs.

2 48' semi-trailer trucks are used to transport the production's puppets from city to city. (31 trucks total for everything)

The Grasslands headdresses use 3,000 stalks of grass per year.

There are over 100 ants on the Ant-Hill lady.

39 Hyenas in the show and 52 wildebeests.

There are 143 people directly involved with the daily performance-53 cast members, 21 musicians, 25 wardrobe people, 13 carpenters, 10 electricians, 8 administrative people, 6 creative assoc. 4 props people and 3 sound people.

Enjoy!