Seeing the Lion King and meeting Adam Beach

Sorry it's been a while since I've posted, what can I can say I have been out enjoying the beautiful weather getting tanned. First let me get this off my chest, I can't believe the guy I couldn't stand as the Genie in Aladdin has now won a Tony, ugh! Also from what I've seen on the Tony's I need to go see Neil Patrick Harris in Hedwig and the Angry Inch, like yesterday. His Tony performance was AMAZING! (Ramin Karimloo may have lost fair and square as much as I was blown away by his performance as Jean Val Jean back in January)

That being said, I am now cautiously optimistic Disney musicals again after seeing the Lion King on June 7. They had me from the giraffe costumes. (Not that I am biased because I love giraffes or anything) They stayed true to the movie which is important to me  -I watched it the day after- although I was a little worried in the beginning of act two that they were going to have this sub plot of Scar pursuing a grown up Nala, fortunately that wasn't the case. I ended up watching the movie the next day. Sadly it seems I have lost my Lion King soundtrack, I've got the case but not the CD. I think it is a good thing the music wasn't fresh in my head, I think that may have detracted from my enjoyment of Chicago because I had pre-watched the movie etc.

I was in the upper balcony of the no longer to be torn down Princess of Wales Theatre (YAY!) so I didn't get to see any costume detail up close. It was especially neat to see how the animals were done because I had gone to a zoo the week before and had seen Lion's and giraffe's up close. Anyway I bought a souvenir programme and couldn't believe all the intricate beading and shell-work.  The ingenuity and the amount of work that went to everything was really impressive. There probably close to 150 costumes. I loved how the person wearing the giraffe costume was using stilts for their hands and feet and their head became the base of the giraffes neck.I still think the hyenas were well done and captured the hunched heads just like the cartoon.

The staging itself was phenomenal.  The elephant grave yard scene I think would have been scary if I were a kid. The way they handled the stampede scene was pretty cool. I don't even want to think about all the time that went into making the wildebeest costumes. Julie Taymor is a genius.

The cast was uber talented too. I though the guy who played Scar was fantabulous. The delivery of Scar's snarky comments was spot on just like in the movie. He was deliciously evil. He's my favourite.

Either way after seeing Lion King I am willing to see another Disney musical. Right now they are batting 50/50 that I'll like it. I am not overly familiar with Newsies, so I wonder what I would think of that show... it is coming next year maybe I'll go.

June 19 marked 10 years since my Aunt Mel passed it is hard to believe it's been that long. So there was something I wanted to do when I saw Lion King, we have a picture of her in front of the Princess of Wales Theatre when she took her son to see Lion King, so I got my friends to take one of me. I guess it was my way of trying to feel close to her some how, that probably doesn't make much sense.  I kinda wish I had remembered to pick the same spot, but the spirit is there.Here are the pics, Mel on the left and me on the right.

 

 A couple weeks after Lion King I got to meet actor Adam Beach, a fellow aboriginal.There was a screening of one of his movies for National Aboriginal Day. It is a sad state of affairs that there aren't more prominent aboriginal actors out there, case in point I can't even name one prominent female native actor, Adam is one of the biggest. You would probably know him from the TV shows Arctic Air or Law and Order:SVU or the films Windtalkers and Smoke Signals. I didn't even find out about the screening until the morning of, definitely how I expected my day to turn out when I woke up! 

The movie that was screen was an indie pic, with themes still relevant to aboriginal society today. There were 5 members of the cast there as well, which was neat, four of them signed my little flyer for the movie, and Adam signed my newly purchased copy of Smoke Signals. The Q&A after was really interesting. I found out all about Adam trying to bring the full movie theatre experience to remote reservations with pop up theatres. Also he is starting a film institute in Winnipeg. He's all around just a really cool guy, a little goofy and funny, not to mention easy on the eyes.. sigh. total crush. His mannerisms and speech remind me of my aboriginal relatives, a total 'nish not a Hollywood hotshot and I respect him all the more for it. His answer to the last Q&A question was "Yes, I'm single" even though that wasn't remotely what the question was. I will leave you with a pic of Adam and I.

A new year and a whole new world!

Hello 2014 hope it is finding my readers well, and that Santa was good to you! This year has been interesting thus far and started off with a bang. On January 2nd I damaged the grill and licence plate holder of my car, that is a $218 mistake, it will be fixed tomorrow. Stupidly I wasn't paying as much attention as I should and didn't break in time, insurance isn't involved, but I am okay which is the main thing.

I still owe a blog post from my December trip to New York City, but for now we'll focus on the first show I have seen of 2014. Yesterday I went to see the musical adaptation of Disney's Aladdin. This will probably come as a shock, especially because I am a HUGE Disney fan, but I have never actually seen a Disney musical  before (No Lion King, Beauty and the Beast or Mary Poppins, nothing, even though they have all played in Toronto within the last few years) I think I have been hesitant, because I tend to be purist, and I know they tend to change stuff, the movies are masterpieces and if it's not broke, don't fix it.

I think it was the chance to see Aladdin, before Broadway audiences that really pushed me to see it before it leaves (Today is actually the last performance). When I was in NYC I saw the theatre marquis of where it is transferring to. I was curious to see what they would do with the Genie and how they would do the magic carpet for the number A Whole New World.

My first mistake was deciding to go to a matinee, because there were a lot of children. The kids were tearing up and down the aisle loudly during intermission and one child had to be taken out because they were bawling loudly. I was way up in the mezzanine and the little girl two rows ahead of me kept on moving around during the first act blocking my view. Grrr. I also had to bitch out of the usher's because she was letting people go back to their seats in the middle of a musical number a big no no. Everyone knows you have to wait until after the song or during a scene change, because it disrupts the other patrons. I have to admit, one of my most unpleasant theatre going experiences EVER. On to the show: minor spoilers ahead.

Parts of the show were great. I absolutely loved the sets, they were beautiful especially the palace sets and the costumes sparkled all the way in the back row.  I don't know why all the reviews seem to skewered the sets, especially with the cave of wonder's scene, when Aladdin becomes trapped.  I wasn't even put off by the fact that the part of Abu the monkey was cut out and replaced by three friends of Aladdin, and that Iago the parrot was just human henchman of Jafar's.  Or even that they cut out the subplot of having Jafar conspiring to marry Jasmine so he can be Sultan. I think enough of the original story remained, a lot of lines were taken verbatim.

One of the highlights for me was seeing Jonathan Freeman play Jafar, he actually voiced him in the original movie! How cool is that? I didn't stage door after though. I loved Adam Jacobs who played Aladdin, he came across as sweet and charming and had a great voice. Vocally I found the casting of Courtney Reed as Princess Jasmine questionable, her acting was fine. I think she really only had three big numbers in the whole show and I found her really weak during the show's iconic number A Whole New World. (Weak to the point where I was wincing) Sadly the majesty of that song's staging wasn't enough to distract me from her singing. I loved the starlit background and the carpet that really did seam to fly through the air as the ensemble danced around almost invisible with glowing planets.

I don't know what I am missing, but everyone is apparently loving the James Munroe Iglehart portrayal of the Genie. Granted Robin William's left some big shoes to fill, and it isn't Iglehart's fault. I blame the book writers for taking the character in a different direction at the risk of sounding racist more black then Jewish. I found him over the top. I didn't like the way they had him break the fourth wall and sing snippets of the composers other works from Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast, it takes me out of the story and typically that is not what you want for your audience.

Overall the show was okay, I don't regret going. It makes me glad I didn't go see my favourite Disney movie show of all time The Little Mermaid when it was on Broadway, if this is what I can expect from the adaptations. I will stick to the original going forward, but I might make an exception for The Lion King when it is back in Toronto later this summer.