The Lion King on Broadway: Tickets, reviews and video

In the opening number of The Lion King, director Julie Taymor created one of the most transporting visions ever seen in a Broadway show. A procession of African beasts of all shapes and sizes—flocks of birds, leaping gazelles, and towering giraffes—moves through the aisles, all interpreted via gorgeous, minutely detailed costumes and puppetry. This long-running New York City musical is based on the 1994 Disney animated flick about a Hamletesque lion who must win back his kingdom from the clutches of his evil uncle. Featuring a catchy score by Elton John and Tim Rice, Taymor’s adaptation is infused with additional spectacle and songs inspired by African culture. Though her serious, elegant vision of the savannah doesn’t quite mesh with the movie’s slapstick antics and Mouse House sentimentality, 15 years of audiences clamoring for Broadway tickets don’t seem to mind at all.—Jenna Scherer

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Director-designer Julie Taymor takes a reactionary Disney cartoon about the natural right of kings—in which the circle of life is pitted against a queeny villain and his jive-talking ghetto pals—and transforms it into a gorgeous celebration of color and movement. The movie’s Elton John–Tim Rice score is expanded with African rhythm and music, and through elegant puppetry, Taymor populates the stage with an amazing menagerie of beasts; her audacious staging expands a simple cub into the pride of Broadway, not merely a fable of heredity but a celebration of heritage.—Adam Feldman

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