Now is the Time to Join the Circle of Life. Get Tickets Today!
Broadway premiere happened in 1997, the musical has been observed by
over 65 million people globally. And, the director Julie Taymor -- whose
colorful costumes are so famous that they are now a part of their
permanent collection in the Smithsonian Museum -- became the first girl
to win a Tony Award for directing a musical. (It won five additional
Tonys, together with 70 additional awards, comprise the 1999 Grammy for
Best Musical Show Album.) Also superlative? The gifted lyrics and music
group: Elton John and Time Rice. The duo, who made the music to the
movie, have accommodated all of the movie's huge hits for the point,
from "Circle of Life" into the Academy Award-winning song "Can You Feel
the Love Tonight."
The narrative is simple but classic: The lion cub Simba, who's born from
the African American heartland, is destined to become king. Simba,
profoundly sad and humiliated, goes into self-exile. Since Simba wanders
the jungle, then he develops to a lion and finally returns to recover
the throne. A jealous brother that kills the king and banishes the
youthful prince?
Perhaps most noteworthy is the manner by which the African landscape
comes to life through the individual body. Each one the organic
components -- such as fresh buds of bud -- are done by celebrities, who
blossom out of the floor and sway back and forth because the winds cross
the African plains. The celebrities also expressively utilize their own
bodies writhing, pouncing, leaping -- to execute the astonishing
selection of creatures: Zebras prance, antelopes arch their backs and
giraffes teeter such as stiff-legged ballet dancers.
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