The Lion King
Right in our backyard, they’ve spent the last 10 months or so expanding one of the weirdest malls you’ll ever see, Montecasino, adding an Italian piazza and one of the biggest theaters in the world.
The theater was specifically built for the South African production of The Lion King which, if all goes well, is supposed to bring in several hundreds of millions of euros in turnover during the first few months alone.
The theater is surprisingly small, which is mostly due to the audience having very small arm and leg room, and so is the stage. The advantage being, of course, that where ever you are, you still can easily see what’s going on, on stage.
The show was quite amazing, but I’m sure that, amongst others, ten years on Broadway, no one still needs to be convinced. They’re just copying a tried and tested formula.
A few scenes are spectacular: the opening scene with all the animals on stage and Simba’s conversation with his deceased father.
The acting could be a bit better, although some of the roles are done extremely well, Timon being one of them. Particularly young Simba, the son of producer Lebo M, sings very well, but could be a better actor.