"Performances at San Francisco's Orpheum Theatre

If you have seen The Lion King movie, you know that the show is a whole new experience. First of all, the live music really makes a difference. Down in the “pit,” musicians are actually playing while the actors are on stage. There are two areas on the left and right of the stage where you can see someone tapping on an assortment of different drums. The actors and actresses are singing right in front of you.

In a movie, the characters have the freedom to travel to different places and move around a lot without much difficulty. On stage, it’s a lot harder, but it’s also more interesting. It’s fascinating to see what elements are used to make it seem like the characters have changed location. They can alter the lighting, bring in props, change the background. The color theme of the whole set was orange, yellow and brown, like a lion. I liked the giant elephant skeleton that Simba, the main character, and Nala, his best friend, climb around on when they are trying to escape the hyenas.

And then there are the costumes—they’re amazing. A man on stilts becomes a giraffe. A beautiful lion mask, some face paint, a golden-brown wooden vest and some baggy beige clothing transform a boy into a lion. There were even people dressed as plants who made up a jungle. A part of the costumes is the puppets. Paper birds come alive. Wooden antelope attached to a man prance around the stage. The hyenas are only partly puppets. A fairly simple gray hyena suit makes up most of the costume, but the heads are not attached to the suit and they are controlled by the person wearing it. The hyenas are very funny characters, and they have the craziest laughs. One of them has his tongue permanently sticking out of his mouth. Zazu, the bird who serves the lion king, has a very interesting costume. The actor is dressed all in dark blue with small bits of white here and there. He controls the bird puppet, which is white and orange. This puppeteer worked magic; the bird really seemed real. There was also Timon, the meerkat, and Pumbaa, the warthog. The actor who played TImon was dressed in green, and attached to the front of his green suit was the orange puppet of the meerkat. I think they did a great job on Pumbaa’s costume also. It was a giant warthog head attached to the front of the actor, and the back of the warthog attached to the other side of the actor.

I also think the choreography added to the experience. The animals were dancing throughout the show. In the opening scene, all the animals were dancing around the lion king, who was standing on a tall rock. First came the baboon, then the elephants and antelope, lions and zebras and giraffes. They were all dancing in a manner similar to the way the animal moves in real life. The antelopes were hopping, the zebra were galloping, the elephants were moving more slowly and flapping their ears. They all were lined up and danced through the aisles before stepping onto the stage.

This was the first time I’ve seen The Lion King, and I thought it was really great. It was a really beautiful show, and there was a really powerful message about the cycle of life in it also. I like the movie too, but that’s just on a screen. At the show, I felt like I was part of it all and it was really happening right there, in front of me.