There is nothing like the opening scene of "The Lion King": the full-throated call of Rafiki the baboon, the rising sun in the background, and then the graceful entry of the giraffes, followed by an elephant walking down the aisle, accompanied by the fantastically full harmony of the ensemble.
It's a theatrical high created by Julie Taymor, who directed the 1997 adaptation of the 1994 Disney animated film. Now perhaps infamous for her direction of the current Broadway "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark," she brought incredible creativity to this production, designing costumes, masks and puppets to create African jungles and savannas and the creatures that inhabit them. And the show won a boatload of Tony Awards in the process.
The touring version is cinematic and lush, with a huge cast, a big sound and endless visual treats. In Taymor's conception, costumes, puppets, scenery and lighting merge into a single, flowing art form that never fails to delight. Color and movement continually tickle the eye; Garth Fagan's choreography won a Tony, as did Richard Hudson's scenic design and Donald Holder's lighting.
The book, by Roger Allers and Irene Mecchi, was a Tony winner as well, but it is less thrilling. The story of the monarch lion Mufasa and his twisted, resentful brother Scar focuses on the young prince, Simba. As a cub, he is tricked by his uncle into believing he is responsible for his father's death. The youngster flees, leaving Scar to rule and ruin the kingdom. Simba sets about to forget his responsibilities, aided by the comical meerkat Timon and odorous warthog Pumbaa, then returns to claim his rightful place.
The Elton John-Tim Rice score is tuneful and poppy, well sung in this production by the powerful Buyi Zama as Rafiki, Dionne Randolph as Mufasa, J. Anthony Crane as Scar, an especially funny Mark David Kaplan as Zazu, Nick Cordileone as Timon and Adam Kozlowski as Pumbaa. There is an effort to mimic the voices of the movie; Cordileone sounds just like Nathan Lane, Kozlowski like Ernie Sabella, Crane like Jeremy Irons. Jelani Remy's Simba and Syndee Winters' Nala are engaging, as are their younger versions (played at alternating performances by Zavion J. Hill and Adante Power, Kailah McFadden and Sade Phillip-Demorcy). All are skilled at manipulating their intricate costume/puppet hybrids.
The film was 90 minutes long, but the musical runs 2½ hours with intermission; some of the additional material slows things down. Newer songs by teams other than John and Rice feel like filler ("They Live in You," "Shadowland"); the action and the energy peter out in the second act.
But if you want to put your children under the spell of theater, you couldn't do better than to bring them to this show, where the enchantment of a conjured world will take their breath away.
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