i havent seen the stage version, which i would love to do. somehow, watching bits of it on youtube just isnt the same. i do have the album on my ipod though and listen to it all the time. i must admit though, 'the madness of king scar" is just plain creepy when he starts hitting on nala. considering its likely he is her father, its just weird.
it would be great if they would release a dvd of the stage show [maybe include as a bonus in the next lion king release?] as thats probably the only way i will see it, unless it comes back to australia?
The Lion King: Movie or Broadway?
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PixarFan2006
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Tascar
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I voted for both.
Ignoring the "performance" of the film and the musical for now, I was initially inclined to given an edge to the musical. I like the extensions Julie Taymor made to the story. I do like the additional music in the musical even if Elton John's new songs, especially "The Morning Report" (which works far better in the musical than the movie), is inferior to both John's original songs as well as the Hans Zimmer songs "Shadowland" and "Endless Night" and Lebo M.'s "They Live in You." That being said, I love those elements of the movie that are unique to the motion picture such as the animation, the shots, the editing of scenes, etc. In addition, I felt that the musical removed alot of the power of the music by reducing the instrumentation and shifting much of the musical emphasis to the African choir. I felt especially strong about this in regards to the stampede scene and Simba's ascension to Pride Land, both of which I felt lost alot of power in the musical's arrangement.
That being said, to a large extent, I would argue that this comparison is not at all a fair one. If we think of the movie as a "performance," then the movie is a "performance" that has been carefully sculpted and tailor-made for years. Every shot is perfectly designed to create a certain impression. Every word and line of dialogue is perfectly selected for the right mood, pronunciation, etc. Every note played by the orchestra has been selected in order to create a particular timbre.
In contrast, the musical is arguably "different" every single time due to different performers, players, etc. Logistical reasons made result in the bringing in of actors or other performers that are not as good as they could be. For example, I saw Jason Raize and Heather Headley as Simba and Nala respectively and I thought they were so good that I have come to associate the two actors, moreso than the animation and voice acting of the animated film, with the two characters. In contrast, while I like John Vickery as an actor, I was really not a fan of his take on Scar. Of course, given how many productions and cast changes there are for this show, my experience is likely to be completely different from someone else's.
Even assuming that you have a perfect cast, each performance becomes uniquely different because everything is done straight-through in one single go with almost zero-chance of starting over again. As a result, slight variations, accidents, and mistakes can occur and make two different shows with the exact same performers unique and different.
In the performance I saw, Tom Alan Robbins (Pumbaa) messed up his line "you got to put your behind in your past" and said it as "you got to put your past behind you." That inversion threw off Max Casella (Timon), who was obviously supposed to come in and correct that line. As I recall, Max Casella started delivering his next line, stopped himself mid-sentence, paused, and then said something to the likes of "never mind." before continuing on.
If we are looking at the script, one could view this exchange as a mistake on the actors. However, I personally found the "mistake" a happy accident that added a bit of flavor to the show and it is one of the things I remember very clearly from the show, despite having seen it over 11 years ago.
Ignoring the "performance" of the film and the musical for now, I was initially inclined to given an edge to the musical. I like the extensions Julie Taymor made to the story. I do like the additional music in the musical even if Elton John's new songs, especially "The Morning Report" (which works far better in the musical than the movie), is inferior to both John's original songs as well as the Hans Zimmer songs "Shadowland" and "Endless Night" and Lebo M.'s "They Live in You." That being said, I love those elements of the movie that are unique to the motion picture such as the animation, the shots, the editing of scenes, etc. In addition, I felt that the musical removed alot of the power of the music by reducing the instrumentation and shifting much of the musical emphasis to the African choir. I felt especially strong about this in regards to the stampede scene and Simba's ascension to Pride Land, both of which I felt lost alot of power in the musical's arrangement.
That being said, to a large extent, I would argue that this comparison is not at all a fair one. If we think of the movie as a "performance," then the movie is a "performance" that has been carefully sculpted and tailor-made for years. Every shot is perfectly designed to create a certain impression. Every word and line of dialogue is perfectly selected for the right mood, pronunciation, etc. Every note played by the orchestra has been selected in order to create a particular timbre.
In contrast, the musical is arguably "different" every single time due to different performers, players, etc. Logistical reasons made result in the bringing in of actors or other performers that are not as good as they could be. For example, I saw Jason Raize and Heather Headley as Simba and Nala respectively and I thought they were so good that I have come to associate the two actors, moreso than the animation and voice acting of the animated film, with the two characters. In contrast, while I like John Vickery as an actor, I was really not a fan of his take on Scar. Of course, given how many productions and cast changes there are for this show, my experience is likely to be completely different from someone else's.
Even assuming that you have a perfect cast, each performance becomes uniquely different because everything is done straight-through in one single go with almost zero-chance of starting over again. As a result, slight variations, accidents, and mistakes can occur and make two different shows with the exact same performers unique and different.
In the performance I saw, Tom Alan Robbins (Pumbaa) messed up his line "you got to put your behind in your past" and said it as "you got to put your past behind you." That inversion threw off Max Casella (Timon), who was obviously supposed to come in and correct that line. As I recall, Max Casella started delivering his next line, stopped himself mid-sentence, paused, and then said something to the likes of "never mind." before continuing on.
If we are looking at the script, one could view this exchange as a mistake on the actors. However, I personally found the "mistake" a happy accident that added a bit of flavor to the show and it is one of the things I remember very clearly from the show, despite having seen it over 11 years ago.