Broadway in Chicago, Disney's The Lion King

This past Tuesday a friend and I hopped on a train and headed downtown Chicago to see Disney's The Lion King.  I'd heard many great things about this show from various friends, so I was prepared for a good show. However, I was still surprised but the BEAUTY of it all.  It was truly amazing!

The scenery is very simple for most of the production but the things that are done with lighting and the subtle scenery is incredible.  But by far the most unbelievable part of the show are the costumes.  Photos aren't allowed in the theater so I don't' have any of my own to share.  But part of me is hesitant to even share the publicity photos they have because a still frame simply does NOT do justice to the art work that is the costuming. It's the beauty of the movement of the costumes.  It truly is indescribable. 

It was so breathtaking and magical that we were only SLIGHTLY distracted by the chatty momma behind us (kids were great but mom wouldn't stop talking to them) and the intoxicated lady in front of us who thought she was at a rock concert instead of a Broadway show. (We were secretly pleased to see her rush out...even if it WAS to throw up as I suspect. Good for us, not so good for her.)

Disney's the Lion King is in Chicago until the end of November.  I highly recommend it.  As I said, these photos don't begin to tell the real beauty of this production.  If you look at the middle photo above and notice in the background the gazelle's, look very closely to see that it is actually several dancers with several gazelle puppets each.  They are totally brought to life by the way the dancers move.  There was a leopard (or some other large cat) that was literally hypnotic to me to watch the way it was connected to the puppeteer and how they move together.

A few fun facts:

• more than 200 puppets are in the show including rod puppets, shadow puppets and full-sized puppets.  (The Pumba puppet was my absolute favorite but I also love the giraffes and the zebras.)
• there are 25 kinds of animals, birds, fish and insects represented in the show
• there are 12 bird kits in the opening number of act 2 (all beautiful even to me with my serious bird phobia)
• it took 17,000 hours to build the puppets and masks (to give some perspective that 425 work weeks)
• the tiniest animal is the trick mouse at the end of scar's cane: 5"
• the longest animal is an elephant: 13' long 11' ." high and 9' wide
• the tallest animals in the show are the 18 foot exotic giraffes seen in "I Just Can't Wait to Be King" (one of my favorite songs from the show!)

If you go see, it I hope you'll stop back by and let me know what you thought!