Admission: The original animated Lion King came out the month I was graduating college in 1994, so I didn’t see it. Maybe I was doing freelance work at The Limited Brands in Columbus at the time—a painful gig where the art director would flag pages in French magazines with notes to “change that word to FORENZA.”
Fast forward 26 years and here I’m sitting in a theater thanks to two special folks and get to experience a traveling production of the musical.
(I finally saw the animated movie a few weeks back. It was… a’ight.)
This live show is very much as I’ve been told: all about the costumes—they’re mesmerizing. The lighting, also fantastic. These two elements alone make the whole thing worth it, but there are choice moments where the music coalesces and there are feels.