The Lion King

This show isn't just a musical masterpiece for the ears. It's a beautiful production for the eyes.

It opens with "Nants' Ingonyama" and "Circle of Life," where you first hear the loud, spine-chilling bellows of Rafiki leading the song. That's the signal for the immersive start. Hundreds of animals come down the aisles of the theatre, row by row, making their way up to the stage.

What I love is that the animals aren't trying to be realistic by pretending to be an animal. Instead the show blends African fabrics, quilts, and patterned pieces into something closer to moving art, with each one built to represent its animal. The actors aren't hidden away either. The design doesn't try to disguise a human as an animal. Visible levers and hinges put the movement, the engineering, and the artistry right out in the open, so the human and the animal read as one thing rather than one pretending to be the other.

The sheer volume and variety constantly fill the stage. There are giant eighteen-foot giraffes at one end and tiny birds riding on the backs of the rhinos at the other. The attention to detail beautifully captures the complexity of nature.

That carries straight into the huge, complex set pieces. Giant Pride Rock circles around the stage on its own. The enormous skeletons form the graveyard where the hyenas live. It's the best set design I've ever seen, and it makes every location feel immersive. One recommendation. Get an aisle seat like I did. It puts you mere feets from the animals as they gallop, fly, and run past you to reach the stage.

My only gripe is Timon. He just seems a little out of place. It looks like the Jolly Green Giant is standing behind him. With all the time and effort put into balancing nature and humans, and blending the actors into the animals so intentionally, why did they choose a big green man to stand behind Timon? It makes him stick out like a sore thumb. Compare that to the complex lion headpieces that articulate down in front of the actor's face, or the puppetry of Zazu that can flap its wings, open its beak, and close its eyes. Timon feels rushed.

It's really hard to pick a favorite song. This show is packed with classics. But I think "Circle of Life" wins, for a few reasons. It's the spine-chilling opener that sets the tone for everything to come. The loud and harmonious vocals combine with the energy of every animal filling the venue. Then a single loud BOOM turns the bright colors and the beautiful sunrise into darkness. The contrast in energy is incredible. It's mirrored later in the "Circle of Life" reprise, which reignites that same energy at the very end. After all the sadness and hardship and loss, the show closes on the same beautiful high note it opened with. It's a true bit of symbolism. The song comes full circle as both the opener and the closer, just like the circle of life itself.