Lion King the Musical Essay

“The Lion King” is watched by children all over the world. It is a classic Disney movie that many watch for fun and entertainment, but could there be something else to this film? The plot of “The Lion King” is very similar to Shakespeare’s play,” Hamlet”. Some similarities include the lives of Simba and prince Hamlet are changed due to their evil uncles, both fathers die, and both fathers come back as ghosts. Each character in “The Lion King” connects with a character in “Hamlet”. Simba plays as prince Hamlet, Mufasa plays as King Hamlet, Gertrude plays as Sarabi, Scar plays as King Claudius, Nala plays as Ophelia, Rafiki plays as Horatio, hyenas plays as Laertes, and Timon and Pumbaa plays as Rosencrantz and

Directed by James Algar and released in 1940, this movie was the first of its kind, using classical music and creating scenes with animations around that music or vice versa. This movie contains eight musical segments all narrated by Deems Taylor with different music and animations like Mickey Mouse, fairies, flowers, dinosaurs, figures from mythology, animals, and spirits for each of the scenes. As

In the history of Broadway there is one musical that stands above the rest and for many generations will be loved and adored. That musical is The Lion King. The musical retells the beloved Disney animated movie’s story on the stage, but it also brings new and exciting elements to the stage which has helped to inspire and push other musical creators in their approach of storytelling. Not only did the musical have the talented Julie Taymor (who was the first woman to win a Tony for directing) with her talented creative team, but the musical also has the rich African influences, and inventive/creative use of puppetry. The Lion King is a story about birth, life, love, death, rebirth, and ancestry. The heart of the show is truly African and Julie

see how this production had a major influence on Disney’s Aladdin. More specifically, in the

It is said that today’s entertainment has strayed from classical literature. This was encompassing until Disney produced The Lion King in 1994. The Lion King placed a facade on a solemn story of responsibility and revenge. In Trey McElveen’s article, “Hamlet and The Lion King: Shakespearean Influences on Modern Entertainment”, he states that today’s entertainment has lost touch with the classical literatures of it’s predecessors, which could be agreed upon. McElveen informs us about the main characters and their influence on the main protagonists of the stories. According to the article, “Hamlet and The Lion King: Shakespearean Influences on Modern Entertainment” by Trey McElveen, the characters of Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Disney’s The Lion King are

Disney has taken the world by storm from movies to games to television and now even theatre. Disney is no stranger to the silver screen or to your home television screens, but it has now made its mark on Broadway stages around the globe. Since the early 1990’s, dozens of Disney films have been adapted into Broadway classics. When one show stops, another one begins. Storming into its 24th year, Disney on Broadway is one of the most successful theatre enterprises in the world reaching millions of audience members in more than 40 countries (Tallarico).

The Lion King is one of the most famous Disney animated feature of all time. It has captured the hearts of children and adults everywhere around the world and has made over Three Hundred and twelve million dollars. But The Lion king is much more than a movie that has made a lot of money, it actually is the story of a hero's quest or journey. The hero's journey is reflected everywhere, from a television show to great works of literature, and even movies. A Hero's journey consists of separation, transformation and initiation, and the return of what a hero experienced throughout his/her journey. The story of The Lion King shows how the protagonist Simba follows the Hero's Journey.

In 1994, the critics hail an animated masterpiece, not only for its artwork and music, but also for the plotline: an evil uncle displaces the heir to the throne and sends him into exile. Years later, following both a prophecy and an encounter with the ghost of the old king, the heir is persuaded to return to his home, avenge his father's death, and take his proper place as the ruler of the kingdom. At first glance, Disney's The Lion King has all the classic motifs of the revenge plot. These archetypal patterns occur in many stories, and Disney writers Jim Capoblanco and Irene Mecchi may well have built the plot's structure from the ground up. However, if we disregard the Serengeti setting, the

A mother says to her young child, “Honey, come downstairs and watch Hamlet!” A statement which might sound ludicrous at first, is in reality, more sensible than one might think. Since 1994, The Lion King has been a must-see film for children all around the world. Its 8.5 rating on IMDB lists it alongside of some of the greatest movies ever made. Children’s movies that were released around this time were all shallow and simplistic. The reason why The Lion King was so successful is because it was an unexpected and pleasant anomaly. The Lion King is a story of responsibility and revenge, masked by a setting that is known to be appealing to children.

When I went to go see The Lion King on Broadway a few words came to mind after the play; amazing, stunning, and unbelievable! I was a little unsure at first, because I thought I was too young to see something from a Disney World production. I was also wondering how Disney was going to manage putting a film starring non-human characters, into a three-dimensional stage. However, using all their “Disney magic” with a little help from a great stage producer The Lion King Musical kept my attention all the way through with their; voice and diction, staging, and many other elements.

     The original Disney cartoon of a lion cub blamed for his father’s death has been remade into a Broadway musical acclaimed all over the world. Seen by over twenty five million people in over 15 thousand performances this intricately designed wonder has taken over 37 thousand hours just to build the puppets and masks. Julie Taymor the director and costume designer was faced with a problem of whether to create humans or animals playing the part and she decided to make masks that show the animal face, as well as, show the human face giving the character his or her personality. As for expressing other animals that are not part of the main cast or to express a certain theme, 2 different

“Everything you see exists together in a delicate balance. As king, you need to understand that balance, and respect all the creatures from the crawling ant to the leaping antelope,” said Mufasa, a supporting character in the film depiction of Walt Disney’s: The Lion King (1994). The Lion King is a timeless archetypal work that time after time has given youth hope and has shown them that courage is not always innate, but can be learned from just living life with a little “hakuna matata”. The Lion King, through the use of classic archetype, vivid surrealism, and iconic symbolism, shows a coming to age story that shows children that life is an adventure worth the trouble.

Traditionally, animated films have been made for and consumed by children, with the plotlines and themes being relatively basic and forthright. However, recent years have seen the release of animated films that explore significantly more adult themes and thought provoking ideas. Perhaps the most confronting example of adult themes in an animated film is in 2016’s ‘Zootopia’. The film forces viewers to think about concepts such as racial segregation, nature vs. nurture and the debilitating effect of stereotyping. Although Zootopia features anthropomorphic animals, it is easy to draw a connection between the film’s prey vs. predator narrative and racial divide in our own society.

The most common and modern lion dance costumes are worn by two performers who become the body of the lion: the front dancer is the head and front limbs while the one in the back is the lion’s behind and hind legs. The performers’ legs are dressed in the same color as the lion’s body and the shoes are made to resemble the lion’s paws. The lion’s head is usually oversized and dragon-like, looking similar to the stone dragons in China.

Starting off her paper, Lacroix begins with an anecdote of her visit to a theater’s premier of The Lion King. Within her anecdote, Lacroix remarks that “a toddler…began shouting with glee” for the character Timon from The Lion King, which Lacroix found concerning as the toddler “was all too aware” even before the movie started playing (213-214). Lacroix directs attention to the repeated exposure of