Andrew Lloyd Webber

Hello,

Simon wrote:

>And I have to say that The Lion King will die a death too once thatÂ’s >closed. The only thing keeping it running is its incredible staging, >breathtaking sets, costumes... I'm having de ja vous. The music in the >Lion King is quite interesting. It mixes gorgeous African chant with the >tacky Elton John tunes. I must confess that I cringed when "I just >can't wait to be King" started. BRING BACK THE AFRICAN MUSIC! >Anyhoo....

It's sad, but I have to say I agree with that a little. I flew to Sydney to see it, because it looked absolutely fantastic, all the costumes, the lighting, the set, the use of puppetry, you know, just really beautiful design work.

The opening, " The circle of life" was amazing, and I was thinking "this is going to one brilliant musical", and the African chant was great, but at the end of the first act I didn't really know what to think. I mean I do love the Elton John tunes, but some of the new stuff wasn't that good, for example the Hyena tune "Chow Down", it was like a rock and roll song, it didnÂ’t fit in with the rest of the show .

The song Nala sings where she tells her family that she has to leave, is a nice song, as were others. But the show did get kind of bad in the middle.

Not all the songs were good so I don't know if it would last being performed without ALL of itÂ’s beautiful design work. It was a good show, it was just a little disappointing thatÂ’s all.

laura