The Lion King

It seems as if there’s no blockbuster Disney doesn’t own now that its properties include Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars. It has also started releasing live action versions of its most beloved films, making money from them all over again. But it hasn’t quite cracked the stage.

The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Frozen, and Tarzan have had Broadway runs, and some West End ones too, but the company has never replicated the success of Julie Taymor’s adaptation of The Lion King.

What Taymor understood is that a stage adaptation has to work for the stage. It’s not enough to plonk the film in a theatre and leave it at that. Those now legendary costumes – the lions’ heads and the leaping gazelles – and the sumptuous re-orchestration of the music were specially formulated for the theatre. There were new songs, new scenes, new ways of telling stories on stage.

In just its opening scene, with Elton John, Hans Zimmer and Lebo M’s Circle of Life, Taymor created one of the all-time great moments in musical history.

All that majesty and magic is still here in this touring production. This is only the second time The Lion King has been out on tour in its 20 years, which is kind of surprising. There’s obvious shrinkage now that it’s having to pack up and decamp every few weeks – some of the capabilities of the Lyceum stage are lacking – but it’s still very much the mighty king of musicals it’s always been.

The cast is mostly made up of international Lion King alumni, from the pouncing, energetic Dashaun Young, as Simba, to Thandazile Soni’s cheeky Rafiki – the latter an absolute scene-stealer.

Richard Hurst offers a panto villain Scar, neither as camp as Jeremy Irons nor as chilling as Chiwetel Ejiofor. Though Carl Sanderson nails Pumbaa, Steve Beirnaert’s Timon is a tad over the top.

At this early point in the tour, some of the notes are off, and a few last bolts and nuts need to be tightened in the choreography. Plus the attention to detail in updating the show – Zazu sings Let It Go at one point – doesn’t stretch to biographies in the programme that are a decade out of date.

Since The Lion King on stage has grossed $8 billion already – more than any film, play, musical or other piece of entertainment ever created – the Disney overlords certainly don’t need to make money with this tour. So it’s an act of generosity, really; a chance for people outside London to see this show in all its glory, at around half the eye-watering West End prices. Forget the emotionless CGI creatures of the recent remake. This is where the real magic lies.

Disney’s Frozen review at St James Theatre, New York – ‘a thrilling stage version’