I was in high school when I first saw The Lion King movie. And it was in isiZulu nogal! It was the first time since Rocky 4 (the scene where Carl Weathers’ character Apollo Creed gets killed in the ring by Dolph Lundgren’s, Captain Ivan Drago) that I cried while watching a movie. As a young teen boy growing up you still have the whole “I’m the man/tigers don’t cry issue”. What got my tears flowing in The Lion King was that whole act when Mufasa, Simba’s father gets run over by a herd of migrating buffalo. Yo, that was some real sad stuff! That movie went on to gross over US$700 million the world over – and still counting -, which it thoroughly deserved for a job well done.
The stage production I must confess, didn’t give me cause to flap my wings in anticipation when I first heard about it. There was Lebo M, there was Duma ka Ndlovu, holding auditions at the Bassline in Newtown, downtown Jozi towards the end of 2006. In my mind an international production of this magnitude should have at least been auditioned at the Civic or Market or even the State Theater in Pretoria. But what I saw on stage two weeks ago (since I’m not Thamzn Mandela I didn’t make last week’s red carpet event with all the rest of the African VIPs) made me realise that I had fallen for the “hate myself” trap that I always deplore in other people. Sure a number of well-knowns are in there, namely Sello Maake ka Ncube (Archie, Generations) who plays Simba’s dad Mufasa, Zoë Mthiyane (songbird discovered on Coca Cola Pop Stars), Simba's mom, and Mark Rayment who plays Scar and has played that character in the London production as well. But the bulk of the actors are unknown, yet you couldn’t tell from the way they pull it all off. Rafiki’s character for example is one of the funniest, along with of course Timone and Pumba, while Scar looks even more menacing than he was in the animated movie. The lady who plays Rafiki is a real find. That girl has enough in her gut to put any Idols finalist to shame. The discovery of the young Simba was a great job also, although the little one sings a bit better than he can act, while an even better job was done with his little girl friend. Ncube can act, we know, but I had no clue that he could sing too. And I say this as someone who lives with an opera singer! We laughed our asses off, shed a small tear during THAT scene (y’all know which one!), laughed again and again and almost got up to dance along. Brilliant. And no, I don’t work for Lebo M!
Tickets cost between R150 for the “extra strong” seats and R450 for the upper-crust “I can even smell the hyenas’ bad breath from here” front rows.
The Lion King is an amazing production, with extremely creative costumes, a believable cast of professionals, set in an African theatre at Monte Casino. That is the way it should always have been.
The stage production I must confess, didn’t give me cause to flap my wings in anticipation when I first heard about it. There was Lebo M, there was Duma ka Ndlovu, holding auditions at the Bassline in Newtown, downtown Jozi towards the end of 2006. In my mind an international production of this magnitude should have at least been auditioned at the Civic or Market or even the State Theater in Pretoria. But what I saw on stage two weeks ago (since I’m not Thamzn Mandela I didn’t make last week’s red carpet event with all the rest of the African VIPs) made me realise that I had fallen for the “hate myself” trap that I always deplore in other people. Sure a number of well-knowns are in there, namely Sello Maake ka Ncube (Archie, Generations) who plays Simba’s dad Mufasa, Zoë Mthiyane (songbird discovered on Coca Cola Pop Stars), Simba's mom, and Mark Rayment who plays Scar and has played that character in the London production as well. But the bulk of the actors are unknown, yet you couldn’t tell from the way they pull it all off. Rafiki’s character for example is one of the funniest, along with of course Timone and Pumba, while Scar looks even more menacing than he was in the animated movie. The lady who plays Rafiki is a real find. That girl has enough in her gut to put any Idols finalist to shame. The discovery of the young Simba was a great job also, although the little one sings a bit better than he can act, while an even better job was done with his little girl friend. Ncube can act, we know, but I had no clue that he could sing too. And I say this as someone who lives with an opera singer! We laughed our asses off, shed a small tear during THAT scene (y’all know which one!), laughed again and again and almost got up to dance along. Brilliant. And no, I don’t work for Lebo M!
Tickets cost between R150 for the “extra strong” seats and R450 for the upper-crust “I can even smell the hyenas’ bad breath from here” front rows.
The Lion King is an amazing production, with extremely creative costumes, a believable cast of professionals, set in an African theatre at Monte Casino. That is the way it should always have been.
2 comments:
Obviously, this is a showbiz-driven site where you rehash stuff that has appeared in some of the mainstream newspapers without any depth or perspective. I guess you, too, are in the heart of this beat, somehow. I wanted to check out your profile but hit against a wall. It would have helped to know who is running this information plantation. Do let us know who you are. Perhaps we can share ideas and make contribution. But this is an attractive site, well-laid and quiet friendly. Push the envelop.
Hey anonymous, thanx for the comment. This is a blog and not a news site. It is therefore not at all meant to break news stories or anything of that sort. It is however, a forum for debate where we can all share issues regarding something we've read, seen, heard or done recently. Nothing more. As far as depth? This is the Internet. How deep can you get?
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