"The Lion King" Broadway tour at the Orpheum Theatre

In the summer of 1997, the stage musical adaptation of the 1994 Disney animated film The Lion King premiered in Minneapolis at the Orpheum Theatre. That fall it moved to Broadway, winning six Tony Awards (including best musical), where it is still playing - currently at number three in the list of longest running Broadway shows. The tour has come back home again, and will play at the Orpheum Theatre for about a month - through April 28. Last night was my 5th time seeing it, and still, nearly 27 years after I first saw it, it's an absolute thrill. It's without a doubt the most successful Disney movie-to-stage musical adaptation on many levels - financially, creatively, musically. The creators of the stage musical took a two-dimensional children's cartoon movie and turned it into a wholly satisfying three-dimensional spectacle of music, dance, puppetry, and story. It's a big-budget spectacle that's also uniquely beautiful and moving storytelling. As Dana said in that one episode of Sports Night - look what we can do!*

"The Lion King" on tour at the Orpheum Theatre

Nineteen years after its pre-Broadway premiere, the national tour of The Lion King returns to the Orpheum Theater in Minneapolis where it all began. Since leaving the Orpheum after it's first run in 1997, The Lion King has gone on to win eight Tony Awards and become the third longest running musical on Broadway and the "top earning title in box office history for both stage productions and films." I saw it in the original run, and twice since, but seeing it again is every bit as thrilling as it was the first time. It's without a doubt the most successful Disney movie-to-stage musical adaptation on many levels - financially, creatively, musically. The creators of the stage musical took a two-dimensional children's cartoon movie and turned it into a wholly satisfying three-dimensional spectacle of music, dance, puppetry, and story. It's a big-budget spectacle that's also uniquely beautiful and moving storytelling. As Dana said in that one episode of Sports Night - look what we can do!