Puppets! The Lion King, and Life of Pi

I wasn’t expecting to like the Lion King musical, but it did blow me away…

Tho it’s weaknesses is its generic African-ness; the music, the costumes, a whole theatrebox full of drums, the puppets, the interaction in and through the audience are wonderful. I think it’s better than the film — who cannot love a dancing rhino or a dancing baby elephant? Yes the elephant was a surprise, (and the giraffes).

Plus Scar doing a whole Olivier/Richard III thing, big time, and that little Simba puppet kicking its legs and jumping about. The dancing is also exceptional — I’ve never seen such unique, stylised moves before.

Problem is, in both The Lion King and Life of Pi, hyenas are the enemy, the evil one and why? Who decides which animals are cute and which ones are nasty — they are after all only doing what animals do….In all honesty, I think the hyena songs let The Lion King down — they are very generic and lack the punch and uniqueness of the others…

Loved the Life of Pi movie (haven’t read the book); the stage show’s effects and staging are something else. And there are puppets as Pi is joined adrift on a boat, apparently by an orangutan, another sneaky hyena and…a tiger. Brilliantly commanded by the guidance of a seasoned naval avatar, Pi learns how gain control of the lifeboat, and tame the tiger. The real story is something much crueller, and I’m not sure what we learn. Pi keeps saying ‘have faith’, but in what?

Did love the extended family and neighbourhood of Pi coming and going, plus surprise giraffes.