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[THE WEEKENDER] Lost in space at the Taipei Arena

The opening performance of The Lion King at the Taipei Arena (台北小巨蛋) on Saturday was impressive for the size of the audience, if not for its response, which was polite rather than rapturous. This is not to say there wasn’t plenty that was spectacular about the show, but the cavernous performance space prevented any intimacy, and poor pacing made the show’s three hours (with intermission) seem much longer.

The opening scene managed to create enormous anticipation, as singers dressed as animals, ranging from antelope to elephants, emerged from the aisles singing the famous opening African chant that then segues into the show’s theme song The Circle of Life. For a moment, the big space came into its own, and the bold designs for giraffes, cheetah and zebra elicited gasps of admiration. It was hard not to be impressed even by this scaled down touring production, and the stage design and effects were some of the most sophisticated I’ve seen in Taiwan for a musical.

The Lion King is primarily a story about a young boy’s coming of age, taking its protagonist Simba through the usual dramatic stages of unbounded ambitions of youth, sin, guilt, insight, facing down his own demons and finally taking his rightful place in society. All of this is brought out in a string of wonderful songs, but the stage at the Taipei Arena, for all its technical marvels, is too small and too distant for people in all but the best seats to really appreciate the intimate tenderness of Can You Feel the Love Tonight or catch the humor of Be Prepared. The story is told in big emotional brushstrokes, but even for something as unsubtle as a cartoon musical, some level of sympathy is necessary with the main characters, and this was never really achieved — or was utterly outshone by the brilliant spectacle.

Even elaborate set pieces such as the bison stampede that leads to the death of Mustafa, Simba’s father, lacked emotional impact. The point of interest is on the clever way the effects of an animated film are recreated on stage with the sophisticated use of traditional performance techniques such as shadows and masks. When Mustafa is thrown from the cliff by his brother in a seamless piece of wire-work, you gasp at the technical proficiency, not at the dramatic import.

This imbalance between spectacle and drama contributed to the slow pacing of the show, but it is difficult to pinpoint why all this wonderful material didn’t make more of an impact. The blame should probably lie with the nature of the venue, which was simply too big, too impersonal and ultimately too uncomfortable for the audience to fully settle down to enjoy the show.

The Lion King is at the Taipei Arena (台北小巨蛋) at 2 Nanjing E Rd Sec 4, Taipei City (台北市南京東路四段2號) until Aug. 24. Tickets are NT$800 to NT$6,600 and are available at www.kham.com.tw or at the venue.

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