by Vani Viswanathan
[box]What does it mean to watch a different, beautiful take on your favourite movie? Vani Viswanathan had one such experience recently watching The Lion King’s musical adaptation and tells you how it felt.[/box]The Lion King is a special movie – I’m sure you’ll all agree. When I watched the movie, I was seven or eight, and I remember watching it with my father in a cinema in Chennai, not quite understanding a lot of what was happening, but knowing that Mufasa dies, Simba runs away, Scar is a villain enlisting the help of bad wolves, a rhino (now I know it’s a warthog) and another strange creature help Simba as he grows up and help him get back his kingdom. I remember listening to the songs and noting my favourites ‘I just can’t wait to be king’ and ‘Can you feel the love?’ but when watching, ‘the Circle of Life’ was my top favourite. In the dozens of times I have watched the movie since, I still get goose bumps every time I see Mufasa with his fierce face breaking into a smile, little Simba sneezing and the beautiful scene when the mandrill hoists Simba up for all the world to see, and the skies opening to bless him.
Last May, I had the chance to watch The Lion King in a different light – something that elevated the status of the movie in my mind. I watched the musical version of the story, one that’s been around for over 10 years and was a massive hit in Broadway.
Thanks to me, my friends and I were a few minutes late, and we had to wait outside our entrance gate, where I saw ladies in white with birds on their heads and hands, and two men joined together by a suit, and seconds later, one of them put on a rhino head. We could hear the inimitable African initial chants in the song ‘The Circle of Life,’ and the ‘rhino’ we were standing next to started moving about in rhythm to the chant. The animals were part of the ensemble that goes to Pride Rock to see the christening of Simba, and we were soon let in to stand by the aisles as the scene progressed. And there I saw deer prancing gracefully, elephants coming in, birds flying, as the wise mandrill made its way through the crowd to lift Simba up in the air, and all the animals cried in joy for the new prince.
What’s beautiful about all this is that the cast is entirely human, but with beautiful props – lions are African men with a lion headdress that can spring forward when the lions clash in combat (Mufasa vs. Scar), deer are stuck on the person’s head and both arms, and they prance forward gracefully to show a bunch of deer galloping, giraffe are men on stilts with a headdress that becomes the long neck and head of the giraffe. It was a magnificent ensemble, one that moved me to tears for the sheer beauty of it.
The cast couldn’t have been better. Except for grown-up Nala, who I wish had been taller, the rest of the cast were perfect for their roles. Mufasa was a tall, built African man, one whom I felt like going up to later and congratulating for the brilliant performance of a king who is fierce, omnipresent, kind-hearted and above all else, a doting father. Scar and Zazu were perfect, and had perfect ‘chemistry’ chasing each other around. Little Simba was an absolute delight – his singing was impeccable and my heart swelled at his mischief, joy and the grief and confusion he faces once Mufasa dies. Grown-up Simba was a beefy, brawny, good-looking man, and had all the naughtiness and character that the future king shows. Timon and Pumba were thoroughly enjoyable, and the team did well to include some local flavour into the dialogue through references to Chinese dragons, the Merlion, ‘ni how’ (‘How are you?’) and ‘si sie ni’ (‘Thank you’).
As with proper theater, the cast sang their songs and said their dialogues – in brilliant, far-reaching voices, ridden with emotion that could be heard no matter where you sat. Extras – trees in the background, lionesses dancing as a troupe, insects in the background – all performed too, and at times, we were treated to singers standing at the aisles and giving us a close-up performance of the brilliant African chants too. Their beautiful harmonizing made me fall in love with their music! We also had the percussionists performing by the sides of the stage, and saw them picking up the strangest of instruments to provide the most beautiful of effects.
It was a two-and-a-half hour performance, and not for a minute through it all did anything look less grandiose or beautiful, or did the audience lose interest. The effort that went into making the sets, the make-up for each and every bird, tree and lion, was apparent in every scene. The whole performance was totally worth every dollar paid – and I made up my mind to watch it again some ten years later, to relive the magic that one of my favourite movies is.
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