Several months ago I found out The Lion King was going to be playing at the Paramount Theater, the same place we saw Phantom of the Opera a few months ago. I told Troy I really wanted to see it and so he bought tickets as a Valentine's present for me!

We went to see it last night and it was pretty good. It's very similar to the Disney movie, but with added fluff and extra songs. The opening scene with all the ensemble at the presentation of baby Simba was pretty impressive. There were actors on stilts portraying giraffes and they had huge elephants on stage too. The small animals like Timon and Zazu had people carrying them around as puppets, which was distracting and made it hard to focus on the puppet. We were also pretty far away, so it was a little hard to get into the show really well. The costumes were really impressive though and the set design was cool. I can't say much for the child actors that played young Simba and Nala, but the rest of the actors, especially Zazu, were good.

The touring production seems to be similar to the Broadway version, but is scaled back somewhat. According to Wikipedia:

"The tour version is very similar to the original Broadway production; however, certain scenic elements which rise out of the stage floor (such as Pride Rock, the stampede, and the grasslands) were converted to less costly configurations for the touring productions. The sun during the opening is reduced in size for the shorter-lasting tours. Stage sizes are also smaller, and the volume of music as well as the number of instruments, is decreased."

Still, I'm glad I finally saw the musical version and it was pretty cool going to the Paramount again. But if you're expecting it to be as good as the movie, you might be a little disappointed. It's definitely worth seeing once though.