Metro Weekly

Final Weekend: The Lion King at the KenCen

The Lion King
The Lion King

Based on the hit animated film, The Lion King is one of the most beloved and successful musicals of all time, and is still going strong 17 years into its Tony-winning debut. Julie Taymor’s revolutionary work in overall direction and costuming deserves every accolade and every child’s audible delight it’s gotten over the years. If Roger Allers and Irene Mecchi’s story, based on the original animated film and following the adventures of lion cub Simba on his way to becoming head of the jungle, doesn’t quite reach the same awe-inspiring feats, it at least doesn’t detract from your enjoyment of the whole spectacle. The Lion King may not have reinvented the theatrical wheel, so to speak, but it did make it bigger and brighter. And it still lives on. Closing this Sunday, Aug. 17. Kennedy Center Opera House. Tickets are $40 to $195. Call 202-467-4600 or visit kennedy-center.org.

Read Doug Rule’s full review here.

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