My 9 year old and I had the pleasure of watching Disney's The Lion King at the Bristol Hippodrome on Sunday, as I was lucky enough to be given tickets for my birthday. We watche the matinee - but a tip for the Hippodrome would be if you're going in the day, don't park at Trenchard Street. It cost us £18 (for 24 hours) as we went over 4 hours! (We didn't want to be late and then the 2.5 hour + interval show started late.) The usually expensive NCP in Millennium Square would have been more like £11 or £12 as their price hike to £18 for 24 hours comes after 6 hours, rather than 4. (Meanwhile we parked in London ALL DAY for £12 when we went to see Frozen the Musical.)
An old friend once worked back stage on The Lion King about 15 years ago, and told me at the time how fantastic all the puppets and animals are - and how walking around in the dark of the wings of the stage was quite an experience with all sorts of animal faces peering at you! That, combined with the famous songs, meant I was really expecting something quite special!
And the opening scene was everything I could have hoped for. Alongside African drumming (with the drummers in the boxes on the sides of the theatre), Thenjiwe Thendiva Nofemele - playing the role of Rafiki - began singing The Circle of Life. As she did so, some giraffes walked on stage and everyone in the audience gasped. Gradually the stage filled up with a rhino, zebras, cheetas, lots of gazeles and birds - it was breathtaking. When a huge elephant, followed by it's baby, walked up on to the stage seemingly (from where we were in the Upper Circle) from the auditorium itself, I was blown away. There was so much to take in and the vocals were just so out of this world, that I welled up and was so happy that my son was experiencing musical theatre at it's best.
I got a similar vibe during the outstanding "Be Prepared" - with an army of amazingly costumed hyenas and the spectacular George Asprey as Scar.
The rest of the show, whilst great, didn't blow me away as much as those scenes but it's possible I'd spent 15 years wondering about it and possibly over hyped it to myself! My son was very interested in how "creative" the costumes were and, whilst quite abstract to his mind, they were amazing.
Young Simba was good and missing from the final curtain call so I assume he had to get home! Meanwhile young Nala had such a strong, beautiful voice! Jamie McGregor as Timon, and Mark Roper as Pumbaa, were everything you'd want them to be, whilst Gary Jordan stole the show for me alongside Asprey. Jordan played Zazu - the bird - and, like all of the cast, did a fantastic vocal impression of the voice from the film. Zazu singing Frozen's "Let it go" was certainly a highlight for most of the young audience (recommended age is from 6 but there were younger people there).
Overall I'm very glad I've seen it, the models / costumes / puppets are definately worth experiencing, but there were times that were a little slow and it felt quite long - so perhaps not one for very young children.
The Lion King is showing at the Bristol Hippodrome until the 1st July 2023.
