The Lion King (London) London Reviews and Tickets
Member Reviews (109)
See it if you have nostalgia for the film and want to see a big budget stage version, featuring some incredibly innovative choreography and costumes.
Don't see it if you want a consistent show. Circle of Life is enchanting, but it’s the first song and the show struggles to reach those heights again.
See it if You love theatricality, invention and big bold statements
Don't see it if You expect the animation live on stage. Read more
See it if The Lion King is my favorite show! It’s incredibly entertaining with wonderful music, and amazing costumes! It’s great for people all ages!
Don't see it if There’s no reason why you shouldn’t see it.
See it if you liked the movie. Same great songs plus a few additional ones. Great costumes and puppetry.
Don't see it if the film was not your thing. Or visible puppeteers distract you from the show.
See it if You love the DIsney film and being swept up in the music
Don't see it if You don't like noisy children in the audiance
See it if You want to introduce your children to theatre and musicals.
Don't see it if You expect something more serious than the Disney movie - it's tiringly very much aimed at children.
See it if You are a Disney or a Lion King fan
Don't see it if You don’t like Disney. So you will see it because everyone loves Disney! Read more
See it if you love the film and want to see it brought to life in the theatre. It's a 'wow' show for all the staging, costumes and choreography.
Don't see it if you don't like visible puppeteers on the stage.
Critic Reviews (4)
“The kaleidoscopic visual brilliance of Julie Taymor's production...lies the ultimate source of the show's success...The show was, and is, a shrewd synthesis of global avant garde techniques; and, even if nothing matched the opening parade of antelopes, elephants and zebras down the Lyceum aisle, it provided a feast for the eyes...I don't believe it's the archetypal narrative structure that is the secret of the show's success. In the end, the eyes have it.”
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“A beautiful dazzle of invention and imagination...The Disney cartoon's air of sweet whimsy is quite banished. With intricate mobile masks, puppets, exotic costumes and even stilts, these jungle creatures capture a fresh dynamic theatricality...John's very soft-rock music and songs generally serve as no more than a pleasing and heartfelt background. For this is a show where the eyes, not the ears, do the feasting...It lights up the West End with the blaze of Taymor's fabulous imagination.”
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“15 years on, it still works brilliantly...It’s easy to overlook what a radical piece of theatre ‘The Lion King’ is, and always was....Taymor has created a world that is fiercely non-literal, often to moving and wondrous effect...There’s a tough-mindedness about her method of story-telling...But it works superbly. The performances in the London production are outstanding."
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“’The Lion King's’ absolute theatricality is astonishing. Techniques from all over the world are smashed together in an explosion of spectacle. It's perfect for a musical, allowing both distinct flavours and an eclectic carnival spirit. Things deflate when it sacrifices this defiant originality for subservient approximation of the film...Its plot is thin...and the score remains disjointed...Nonetheless Taymor's theatrical fireworks...are more than draw enough...A show that demands to be seen.”
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Trailer
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