Montecasino Teatro, Fourways
Director: Julie Taymor
Music and lyrics: Elton John and Tim Rice, with Lebo M, Mark Mancina, Jay Rifkin, Julie Taymor and Hans Zimmer
Book: Roger Allers and Irene Mecchi
When: Tues to Fri: 8pm. Sat: 2 & 8pm. Sun: 1.30 & 6.30pm.
Ends September 9
Rating: *****
Ag (as some of the cheekier animals tend to say), what
more, or new, is there to say about a musical which has become an iconic international phenomenon over the past decade.
As it turns out, quite a bit. Fortunately, the Teatro's actual debut didn't suffer the embarrassing organisational
chaos which preceded the delayed official opening It was worth the wait.
Not only because the spectacle, the music and the performances lived up to the heavily branded hype, but because the content has been cleverly localised. The
result? A production pulsating with Mzansi muscle.
The delicious wit and wily wisdom of the text gets lashing of vernacular voema. How do you translate moegoe,
eish, nkalakata or a number of Afrikaans expressions? You don't have to when there's electric audience recognition, not only of the animals, but of the rhythms and the languages, urban and traditional.
The accents, especially as guffawed and drooled by those hideously funny hyenas, Shenzi (Candida Masoma) Banzai (Simon Gwala) and Ed (Michael Bagg), and those adorable herbivores, Timon (Peter Mashigo and Pumbaa
(Pierre van Heerden), are as thick as braai smoke.
Julie Taymor and her co-designers' aesthetic wizardry anchors this African-textured theatrical fantasy with
an Asian influence, thanks to the puppetry.
The story flirts with spiritual beliefs and ritual substance as suggested by the sangoma figure of Rafiki.
What saves The Lion King from being merely a generic, touristy picture of Africa is the music, which stitches in isicathimiya and even that '50s song, Tamatie Sous.
The clincher in imbuing cultural authenticity is Garth Fagan's choreography, which achieves the equivalent of
genetic marking. His deconstruction of traditional African dance undulations (which are fused with the body puppets) and weaves provides the characters
with a movement DNA.
Happily, the South African dancers (who could tighten up the ensemble work in Act 1) don't turn the Zulu
indlamu (danced incongruously in dashikis) into half-hearted aerobics, which is the case in the London production.
They have the energy and the technique to hold their own - anywhere.
Given the South African input since the musical's inception, it's not surprising that some of the lead characters have settled into their portrayals after
playing on the world stage.
Buyi Zama's Rafiki, Sello MaakekaNcube'sMufasa
and Andile Gumbi's Simba have an authoritative, almost formulaic, stamp.
Yet it is always a thrill when fresh talent breaks through. Tsholofelo Monedi does just that in her dazzling portrayal
of Nala, the lioness. Also quite wonderful is Linda Dlamini's Young Simba.
Yes, the benchmark has been thoroughly raised (pity about those visible flywires, though). Broadway's call to the wild, on the Highveld, is irresistible.