The first time I saw Lion King the Musical was in February 2003. I loved it then and I still love it now. The Lion King is so impressive in many ways with the most creative and innovative set and lighting, a fabulous soundtrack, AMAZING costumes and puppetry, and a great band. Unfortunately tonight the musical was let down a bit by some of the performances.

I’m sure most people are familiar with the movie so are wondering how on earth it could be brought to the stage. It could have been a little sad with the cast dressed up in costumes. But it isn’t. The puppetry and costumers are absolutely masterful and though you can see the man/woman behind the animal it doesn’t really matter and in fact lends depth to the characters on stage. There is definitely a very African feel to the whole show with all the beautiful colours one might expect. Even the grass has character!

As for the performers all were pretty brilliant with their movement and stage presence however I was disappointed with the singing with the kids being constantly off key and even their adult counterparts seemingly sometime having trouble with their pitch. There was, however, no faulting the actor who played/sang Scar who was deliciously evil and my perennial favourite the actress who was the Baboon. Brilliant voice and great comic timing.

There were definitely lots of oohs and aahs during this musical, despite weak deliveries by some of the cast. Not a musical that should be missed!