The Lion King

Because I only had an iPhone at the show, these are the only pics I have from the Lion King. I should have accosted a tourist and asked them to burn me a copy of the show, since about fifty people seemed to be videotaping the whole thing. Of course, they also seemed excited to take pictures of each other outside the bathrooms as well. Maybe I don't want a copy.

Anyway, for Liam's birthday, we went to the Lion King at Mandalay Bay. Since it was his birthday, we told him he could go wherever he wanted for dinner. Of course, he picked McDonalds. Through a fortuitous, but unpredictable, chain of events, I was excused from the birthday dinner.

How about the show? There were pros and cons:

Pros -

The sets were amazing! They were at the same time simple, and intricate. They were abstract and evocative.

The costumes were also amazing. The general appearance of the costumes was amazing but perhaps even more amazing was the movements that the costumes generated. It seemed the perfect way to represent animals and animal movement without something a gaudy as full animal costumes. They really were elegant.

Finally, the sound was amazing. There were two percussionists on either side of the theater, as well as, I presume, some canned percussion coming from below the stage or from the sound booth. It was spectacular.

Cons -

The actors, at times, seemed tired. I felt like the energy should have been higher and the dancing more vigorous. Maybe this cast has been at it too long. In their defense, we were attending on a Tuesday night, maybe the weren't running their "A game" cast. In their offense, we didnt' get a discount for going on a Tuesday night, so we paid for their A-game.

The voices of the older Simba and Nala were far from spectacular.

Highlights:

At one point, you probably know what point I am talking about, they projected stars all over the theater. McKinna, who was sitting right next to me, she said - "What, do they have a disco ball in here?"

I've been in vegas for a while, and I am totally numb (okay, not totally, but substantially numb) to Elvis impersonators. A couple rows in front of us, was what looked like a Wayne Newton impersonator. Hilarious.