Japanese Broadway Lion King

I went to the Japanese Broadway version of Lion King yesterday, along with my parents on their anniversary. It was kind of them to let me come to the show with them. I was a bit wary about going as the show was all in Japanese, but figured it would be good practice to try to pick up what they are saying and what words they are using. It was an amazing production! I loved it. The, beginning was phenomenal, with all the different animals entering onto stage, the costuming was creative and well put together to be realistic. There was even a huge elephant that came onto stage, being followed by a baby elephant!

I found the Cheetah to be an amazing costume. The person in charge of the cheetah was the back legs of the cheetah, and she stayed standing up. The head and front legs of the cheetah were in front of the person, and wires from the person to the cheetah`s head were attached, so that when she moved her head whichever way, the cheetah`s head would move in that direction too. Her arms had sticks attached to the cheetah`s front legs, and so she would move the legs while walking around the stage. I thought that was pretty ingenious.

Another costume I liked were the Hyena`s. I know they are on the bad side in this show, but I really enjoyed watching the Hyena`s. They were funny, and the costuming was so well done, and the actors really made you believe they were hyena`s, displaying the mannerism`s of Hyenas so well. For the three main Hyena`s, the actor had their hands in the head (like a puppet). But the person`s head, was actually making the big humpback that Hyena`s have. Their elbows rested on these small, small stilts that were the hyena`s front legs, and the back legs were their actual legs, but in a slightly crouched position, so I could imagine that takes a lot of muscle and can be quite tiring to be in that costume. They did so well though, and were really funny. The other Hyena`s that were not the main ones, had Hyena masks over their heads, and their arms were the legs. They did this really cool dance routine as well, and it felt like a party was going on up there, with some really awesome dance moves.

The two big lions, Mufasa and Scar had really cool lion head masks. They were attached to the actor`s back by wire, and when they would bend forward, the mask would fall down in front of the actor`s face. When they would stand up again, the mask would rise right above their heads. And when the actor moved their head, their mask would move as well. It was really cool how they portrayed Lion behavior and the movements that lions make. Another great character was Zazu. The actor/puppeteer had this big bird zazu on his arm and hands, but Zazu was a puppet, the actor was not dressed up as Zazu, but he would work the beak, eyes, and the neck. The neck was really great, when Zazu was flustered or agitated, his neck would stretch really far. At one point, when Mufasa was lecturing him on losing Simba and Nala, Zazu gets all agitated and stressed, gets hysterical and the actor did such a great job, Zazu`s neck went everywhere, started banging it`s head on the ground. It was really a funny scene, with how well the actor was using his puppet, Zazu.

Timon and Pumba were also a very funny pair, of course. I was okay with not understanding most of what the actors were saying, but when it came to Timon and Pumba I really wished I understood more of the language. But the actors did a great job of being funny in their mannerisms and antics. Timon was a puppet, with an actor controlling his mouth and arms. Timon`s legs were attached to the feet of the actor. The actor was painted in green, and his outfit was green. He did an amazing job with Timon, making it so very funny to watch. When they first met Simba, he made Timon so nervous to see if Simba was alive, he had Timon shaking so much, it felt so read. Pumba was great as well. That was a huge costume, and the top of his head, where his hair goes, is where the actor`s head was, and the hair of the warthog, was the actor`s hair (wig).

I was wondering how they were going to do the scene where Mufasa dies, when all the wildebeests are on a stampede, and Mufusa goes and saves Simba, but then gets pushed into the stampede by Scar. Even though it was a sad scene, it was amazingly done. They made those huge cliffs with the valley. The closer it was to the audience, it was lower to the ground, the further away was higher, and to make it look like it was far away. So you have this layered valleys, and a picture of wildebeests on the top, way in the back of the stage. Then you hear a rumbling, and Simba starts shaking, to make it feel like the ground is shaking, and then you see the wildebeests, all picture, go down that huge dip to the valley. Then at the first layer back there, you see heads of wildebeests go up and down, up and down, then it gets to the next layer, and more wildebeests heads, except they are bigger because they are getting closer to Simba, then to the next level, bigger wildebeests, and then they are alongside Simba. I thought that was so well done. With the music, it made it seem very intense and scary. “

For that cheesy love song “Can You Feel the Love Tonight”, even though that is a really sappy, cheesy love song, they had these cool acrobatic dancers, that were in the air doing these dances for the song, and that was really cool to watch, despite the sappy song.

I found it very interesting that the humor that was in this show, as there are humorous parts to the Lion King, it was all done in a Japanese comedic way. It was definitely not western style humor. The way Timon and Pumba were, reminded me to Japanese Comedic acts that I saw on TV, from time to time. It worked well though, and we even heard them use the sound “Bi-Bon” The sound that you make when you get an answer write, used here in Japan.

I enjoyed watching this with my parents. Dad kept translating to my mom, who in turn translated to me, at the parts we really wanted to know what they were saying, as there was some scenes that were not in the original movie. I could explain some more amazing set affects, and staging, and whatnot, like different things popping out of the stage, but that would be a really long blog of explanation, so as it probably already is a long blog, I will leave it as this. Watch the Lion King if it is around your area. And maybe it will be in your own language.