Lion King the Musical Essay

“The Lion King” is watched by children all over the world. It is a classic Disney movie that many watch for fun and entertainment, but could there be something else to this film? The plot of “The Lion King” is very similar to Shakespeare’s play,” Hamlet”. Some similarities include the lives of Simba and prince Hamlet are changed due to their evil uncles, both fathers die, and both fathers come back as ghosts. Each character in “The Lion King” connects with a character in “Hamlet”. Simba plays as prince Hamlet, Mufasa plays as King Hamlet, Gertrude plays as Sarabi, Scar plays as King Claudius, Nala plays as Ophelia, Rafiki plays as Horatio, hyenas plays as Laertes, and Timon and Pumbaa plays as Rosencrantz and

The Lion King is one of the most famous Disney animated feature of all time. It has captured the hearts of children and adults everywhere around the world and has made over Three Hundred and twelve million dollars. But The Lion king is much more than a movie that has made a lot of money, it actually is the story of a hero's quest or journey. The hero's journey is reflected everywhere, from a television show to great works of literature, and even movies. A Hero's journey consists of separation, transformation and initiation, and the return of what a hero experienced throughout his/her journey. The story of The Lion King shows how the protagonist Simba follows the Hero's Journey.

see how this production had a major influence on Disney’s Aladdin. More specifically, in the

It is said that today’s entertainment has strayed from classical literature. This was encompassing until Disney produced The Lion King in 1994. The Lion King placed a facade on a solemn story of responsibility and revenge. In Trey McElveen’s article, “Hamlet and The Lion King: Shakespearean Influences on Modern Entertainment”, he states that today’s entertainment has lost touch with the classical literatures of it’s predecessors, which could be agreed upon. McElveen informs us about the main characters and their influence on the main protagonists of the stories. According to the article, “Hamlet and The Lion King: Shakespearean Influences on Modern Entertainment” by Trey McElveen, the characters of Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Disney’s The Lion King are

Wicked The Musical was composed by Stephen Schwarts. Schwarts has written many hit musicals such as Godspell, Pippin, and Wicked. From the musical Wicked only, schwarts has won the Grammy award for best musical theatre album, Drama desk award for outstanding musical and lyrics, and Outer critics circle award for outstanding Broadway musical. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and Broadway Hall of Fame in 2009. Schwarts has also won numerous lifetime achievement awards. The show Wicked opened in 2003 and as of 2013 is the 12th longest running show in Broadway history. Wicked was immediately a sensation among the people, but the critics did not feel the same. Luckily, there was enough street buzz about the show to keep the showing alive.

The musical adaptation of the Disney classic The Lion King, directed by Julie Taymor, is a creative myriad of modern and traditional music, successfully merging the plot and soundtrack of the original film with a stunning cast of powerful vocals and ingenious actors to delight and entertain.

Directed by James Algar and released in 1940, this movie was the first of its kind, using classical music and creating scenes with animations around that music or vice versa. This movie contains eight musical segments all narrated by Deems Taylor with different music and animations like Mickey Mouse, fairies, flowers, dinosaurs, figures from mythology, animals, and spirits for each of the scenes. As

In the history of Broadway there is one musical that stands above the rest and for many generations will be loved and adored. That musical is The Lion King. The musical retells the beloved Disney animated movie’s story on the stage, but it also brings new and exciting elements to the stage which has helped to inspire and push other musical creators in their approach of storytelling. Not only did the musical have the talented Julie Taymor (who was the first woman to win a Tony for directing) with her talented creative team, but the musical also has the rich African influences, and inventive/creative use of puppetry. The Lion King is a story about birth, life, love, death, rebirth, and ancestry. The heart of the show is truly African and Julie

A mother says to her young child, “Honey, come downstairs and watch Hamlet!” A statement which might sound ludicrous at first, is in reality, more sensible than one might think. Since 1994, The Lion King has been a must-see film for children all around the world. Its 8.5 rating on IMDB lists it alongside of some of the greatest movies ever made. Children’s movies that were released around this time were all shallow and simplistic. The reason why The Lion King was so successful is because it was an unexpected and pleasant anomaly. The Lion King is a story of responsibility and revenge, masked by a setting that is known to be appealing to children.

Disney has taken the world by storm from movies to games to television and now even theatre. Disney is no stranger to the silver screen or to your home television screens, but it has now made its mark on Broadway stages around the globe. Since the early 1990’s, dozens of Disney films have been adapted into Broadway classics. When one show stops, another one begins. Storming into its 24th year, Disney on Broadway is one of the most successful theatre enterprises in the world reaching millions of audience members in more than 40 countries (Tallarico).

As innocent and young the Disney movie “The Lion King” may seem, it is, indeed, loosely based off of the renowned Shakespeare play “Hamlet”. It would seem strange to the typical audiences of each, but when looked at closer, it is seen that they are actually related underneath the youthful, animated surface of The Lion King.

In 1994, the critics hail an animated masterpiece, not only for its artwork and music, but also for the plotline: an evil uncle displaces the heir to the throne and sends him into exile. Years later, following both a prophecy and an encounter with the ghost of the old king, the heir is persuaded to return to his home, avenge his father's death, and take his proper place as the ruler of the kingdom. At first glance, Disney's The Lion King has all the classic motifs of the revenge plot. These archetypal patterns occur in many stories, and Disney writers Jim Capoblanco and Irene Mecchi may well have built the plot's structure from the ground up. However, if we disregard the Serengeti setting, the

a moving mouth on the dog so he could sing the story about the cat who lives with him to the well-known song “The lion sleep tonight”. The fireflies and birds indicated on the storyboard were computer generated also.

The most common and modern lion dance costumes are worn by two performers who become the body of the lion: the front dancer is the head and front limbs while the one in the back is the lion’s behind and hind legs. The performers’ legs are dressed in the same color as the lion’s body and the shoes are made to resemble the lion’s paws. The lion’s head is usually oversized and dragon-like, looking similar to the stone dragons in China.

Traditionally, animated films have been made for and consumed by children, with the plotlines and themes being relatively basic and forthright. However, recent years have seen the release of animated films that explore significantly more adult themes and thought provoking ideas. Perhaps the most confronting example of adult themes in an animated film is in 2016’s ‘Zootopia’. The film forces viewers to think about concepts such as racial segregation, nature vs. nurture and the debilitating effect of stereotyping. Although Zootopia features anthropomorphic animals, it is easy to draw a connection between the film’s prey vs. predator narrative and racial divide in our own society.