King of the West End

        Couple weeks ago, I watched one of the most stunning shows I have ever seen in my entire life. Before coming to London, I wanted to watch this show in Las Vegas, however, I did not have time to adventure myself there and see the amazing show that many of my friends were taking about. Because of this, I had my mind set that while in London, I must watch this show no matter what. So, I bought my tickets online days in advance.  The day I arrive at the Lyceum Theatre, there was already a long line to pick up tickets and another long line to get inside the theatre. As I was waiting in line, I was getting more and more excited to see this play, not only because it was based on the Disney movie, but also because it was one of the movies I grew up with and songs I listened during my childhood. Seriously, throughout the show I was speechless.

        The music was my favourite part of the show. It was amazing. Even during and at the end of the show, I could not get the songs out of my head. Every single song made me shiver with excitement. The voices of the characters were so accurate to the characters in the Disney movie, and the voices in the songs were breathtaking.  Also, there were new songs that were not in the Disney movie, but they were still wonderful. My favourite part was the woman who played Rafiki, who guides Simba to recall his father.  Her performance was skilful and interesting. Her voice really made me shiver and her performance was hilarious and truly amazing. The costumes were design in such an extraordinary way. They were creative, making the performers looked like real animals. They were so creative and original that the audience could really forget about the person in them and get engrossed with the performance. The costumes were so elaborate and beautiful. The set was so simple and yet effective. Every scenes makes the audience feel that they are in the African Sabanas, especially when all the animals of the African Landscapes would come together to celebrate the born of the new king. One of my favourite parts of the show is the use of actors to become part of the set. In other words, they were actors who actually play the part of grass or trees and would move around the stage. The costumes and sets give the audience a real feel to the show. From the opening scene, the audience was connected with the characters, they would not even notice the person operating the animals that were walking and flying around the stage.

        There are not enough words to describe the beauty of this show. Since the opening act until the last scene, the numbers were so overwhelmingly powerful. The music, the costumes and the scenery were amazing. I had really high hopes for this about this show and I walked out thrilled. Nothing compares to seeing this show in person. The stage adaptation of the Disney film stays faithful to the movie story. Although new scenes and songs were added, there were still wonderfully choreographed. The show was absolutely stunning! It was amazing how the whole play was put together and I was more impressed to see the many generations of people in audiences watching and laughing during the play! I really recommend watching this show at the Lyceum Theatre! This show has been so far, the most wonderful colorful, imaginative and exciting show I have ever seen during my stayed in London   Hakuna Matata! Maria Lee Li UC Irvine mleeli@uci.edu