Houston's Online Weekend Planning Entertainment Guide

The Lion King    
@Sarofim Hall - Hobby Center

June 27th, 2017 through Sunday, July 23rd, 2017

 

The Lion King debuted back in 1997, in Minneapolis, Minnesota at their Orpheum Theatre, and it was an instant success before premiering on Broadway at the New Amsterdam Theater that October in previews with the official opening on November 13, 1997.

On June 13, 2006, the Broadway production moved to the Minskoff Theatre to make way for the musical version of Mary Poppins, where it is still running to thi day, after more than 6,700 performances. It is Broadway's third longest-running show in history and the highest grossing Broadway production of all time, having grossed more than $1 billion.

Many of the animals portrayed in the production are actors in costume using extra tools to move their costumes. For example, the giraffes are portrayed by actors walking on stilts. For principal characters such as Mufasa and Scar, the costumes feature mechanical headpieces that can be raised and lowered to foster the illusion of a cat "lunging" at another. Other characters, such as the hyenas, Zazu, Timon, and Pumbaa, are portrayed by actors in life-sized puppets or costumes.

Under Scar's rule, the Circle
of Life is out of balance
and a drought has hit the Pride Lands.


The musical opens:
As the sun rises, Rafiki the mandrill calls the animals to Pride Rock. She greets King Mufasa and Queen Sarabi before presenting their cub to the gathered animals ("Circle of Life"). Elsewhere, Mufasa's the king of the pride and his brother, Scar, laments his lost chance at becoming king, since Mufasa has a son.  Back at her baobab tree, Rafiki paints an image of the cub and asks the spirits to conjure the new prince's name: Simba.

But the plot thickens:

By the elephant graveyard, Scar tells the hyenas of his plan to kill Mufasa and Simba so that he can become king. He raises an army of hyenas, promising that they will never go hungry again if they support him ("Be Prepared"). Scar takes Simba to a gorge and tells him to wait there. On Scar's signal, the hyenas start a wildebeest stampede into the gorge ("The Stampede"). Scar tells Mufasa that Simba is trapped in the gorge. Mufasa leaps into the stampede and manages to save his son, but as he tries to escape, Scar throws him off the cliff back into the stampede, killing him.


The chorus, dressed in colorful clothes with ornate bird puppets and kites, begin the Second Act ("One by One"). As the song ends, however, beautiful birds are replaced by vultures and gazelle skeletons. Under Scar's rule, the Circle of Life is out of balance and a drought has hit the Pride Lands. Zazu, now a prisoner of Scar, listens to the king's woes. The hyenas are complaining about the lack of food, but Scar is only concerned with himself and why he is not loved. He is haunted by visions of Mufasa and rapidly switches between delusional confidence and paranoid despair ("The Madness of King Scar"). Nala arrives to confront Scar about the famine and Scar decides she will be his queen and give him cubs. Nala fiercely rebukes him and resolves to leave the Pride Lands to find help. Rafiki and the lionesses bless her for her journey ("Shadowland").

 

 The Lion King    
Sarofim Hall-Hobby Center
800 Bagby St.
Houston, TX
Directions    
Showtimes and Tickets

 

Sunday Listings

Tickets provided by Ticket liquidators.com

Looking for that Sunday weekend event and can't find it  try our custom "Google Search"

© 2010-2017  Weekend America Networks  Menendez Media Group.com 

Privacy Policy Weekend America Web Networks