This season, I’m lucky enough to be a Gammage Goer for ASU Gammage. What is a Gammage Goer you ask? There are a few of us who are assigned to watch some of the shows performing at Gammage this season and we review them. As I’m sure you’re well aware, Disney’s THE LION KING opened last night and will be running through November 17th.
Before I get into what I thought about the performance, here’s a little background about me when it comes to Broadway. I’m originally from Freehold, NJ (Springsteen’s hometown to all you fans out there) and grew up about an hour or so south of New York City. I’ve been to some shows on Broadway and it’s something I enjoy doing whenever I find my way back to the Garden State. By no means do I consider myself to be a theater buff or super into it. I like to think of myself as just an average person that doesn’t mind seeing some theater every once in a while because they like to be entertained. I think this helps me relate a lot to most of the people that will be at Gammage this season.
I’m assuming 99.99% of you reading this have seen THE LION KING or at least know what it’s about, so we’ll skip that part. Having seen the movie a few times, as well the Broadway show years ago, it was great to see it again because I was surprised at how much I had forgotten. Also, there are some parts of the performance that aren’t in the movie. The costumes are extraordinary and so is the set design. I don’t know why, but I totally forgot that the “animals” walk through the crowd to stage at the start of the show. As you would expect, there were a lot of little kids in attendance so when that was happening, it was funny to hear them all get excited and sing along to all the songs they knew. Also, I thought all the actors did amazing jobs – and am especially impressed by the kids who played Young Simba and Young Nala. I thought they both were both incredible and stole the show.
If you’ve seen the show or the movie before, it’s definitely worth seeing again. I had a fun time and would definitely recommend it to anyone and everyone. Be sure to follow me on Twitter to keep up with other shows coming to ASU Gammage this season.
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