Review: The Lion King a majestic show for the child in all of us
It's been 28 years since the stage musical of The Lion King opened on Broadway, but it is still roaring just as loud and proud.
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The touring version currently at the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium until Aug. 17 has been crisscrossing North America since 2002, visiting more than 93 cities, sometimes as many as three different times, and has been seen by more than 21 million people. This is its third time in Calgary, but it has lost none of its power to enchant and exhilarate. The anticipation for the opening number, in which the animals enter through the audience to attend the presentation of the new lion heir, was electric, and the applause at its conclusion was near deafening.
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Based on the 1994 Disney animated feature, it tells the story of the lion cub Simba, whose ascent to the throne of the Pride Lands is thwarted by his jealous, conniving Uncle Scar, who orchestrates the death of Simba's father, Mufasa. The plot is loosely inspired by Shakespeare's Hamlet, but it is really more about family relationships than it is about political rivalry.
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This is made abundantly clear after one of Scar's attempts to rid the Pride Lands of either its king or its heir. Mufasa rescues Simba and young female cub Nala from hungry hyenas in the elephant graveyard, and then takes Simba aside to discipline him for his disobedience. Mufasa takes off his headdress so he is no longer a fierce king, but simply a father trying to teach his young son a life lesson. Darnell Abraham and the young Bryce Christian Thompson have such wonderful chemistry and because Thompson is so animated and mischievous, it's no wonder that it becomes a powerful father/son bonding scene.
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Abraham brings the gravitas essential to the role of Mufasa, making him a wise, loving man as well as an astute monarch. Thompson is a tiny volcano, always on the verge of erupting, but it's obvious Thompson is in control, enjoying the experience as much as the audience.
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The real star of The Lion King is Scar. He is the villain we love to hate, and Peter Hargrave relishes every moment he is on stage. He is slyly evil, and his sarcasm is as charming as it is deadly. His manipulation of the naive Simba is deliciously vile, so that when the adult Simba eventually confronts him, the audience is cheering at his snivelling and begging.
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As a young cub, Simba banishes himself from Pride Lands, as he wrongly believes that he was responsible for his father's death. He finds a new family in Timon the meerkat, and Pumba the warthog, a comic relief duo, played with scene-stealing aplomb by Robert Creighton and Danny Grumich. They replace the earlier antics of Nick LaMedica's Zazu, the hornbill Mufasa appointed to look after Simba.
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Calgary Herald
a day ago
- Calgary Herald
Review: The Lion King a majestic show for the child in all of us
Article content It's been 28 years since the stage musical of The Lion King opened on Broadway, but it is still roaring just as loud and proud. Article content The touring version currently at the Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium until Aug. 17 has been crisscrossing North America since 2002, visiting more than 93 cities, sometimes as many as three different times, and has been seen by more than 21 million people. This is its third time in Calgary, but it has lost none of its power to enchant and exhilarate. The anticipation for the opening number, in which the animals enter through the audience to attend the presentation of the new lion heir, was electric, and the applause at its conclusion was near deafening. Article content Article content Based on the 1994 Disney animated feature, it tells the story of the lion cub Simba, whose ascent to the throne of the Pride Lands is thwarted by his jealous, conniving Uncle Scar, who orchestrates the death of Simba's father, Mufasa. The plot is loosely inspired by Shakespeare's Hamlet, but it is really more about family relationships than it is about political rivalry. Article content Article content This is made abundantly clear after one of Scar's attempts to rid the Pride Lands of either its king or its heir. Mufasa rescues Simba and young female cub Nala from hungry hyenas in the elephant graveyard, and then takes Simba aside to discipline him for his disobedience. Mufasa takes off his headdress so he is no longer a fierce king, but simply a father trying to teach his young son a life lesson. Darnell Abraham and the young Bryce Christian Thompson have such wonderful chemistry and because Thompson is so animated and mischievous, it's no wonder that it becomes a powerful father/son bonding scene. Article content Article content Abraham brings the gravitas essential to the role of Mufasa, making him a wise, loving man as well as an astute monarch. Thompson is a tiny volcano, always on the verge of erupting, but it's obvious Thompson is in control, enjoying the experience as much as the audience. Article content Article content The real star of The Lion King is Scar. He is the villain we love to hate, and Peter Hargrave relishes every moment he is on stage. He is slyly evil, and his sarcasm is as charming as it is deadly. His manipulation of the naive Simba is deliciously vile, so that when the adult Simba eventually confronts him, the audience is cheering at his snivelling and begging. Article content As a young cub, Simba banishes himself from Pride Lands, as he wrongly believes that he was responsible for his father's death. He finds a new family in Timon the meerkat, and Pumba the warthog, a comic relief duo, played with scene-stealing aplomb by Robert Creighton and Danny Grumich. They replace the earlier antics of Nick LaMedica's Zazu, the hornbill Mufasa appointed to look after Simba.
Winnipeg Free Press
a day ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Free Press Head Start for Aug. 1, 2025
An air quality warning remains in effect for Winnipeg. Environment Canada forecasts the air quality at 10+, or very high risk. Widespread smoke with a high of 27 C. The UV index is 7 or high. What's happening today 🏀 The Winnipeg Sea Bears host the Saskatchewan Rattlers at 7:30 p.m. at Canada Life Centre. 🏈 The Winnipeg Blue Bombers play the Toronto Argonauts at 7:30 p.m. at Princess Auto Stadium. 🍿 Assiniboine Park's Lyric Theatre will screen The Lion King followed by Mufasa. Showtimes for the free event are 6:30 p.m. and 8:45 p.m. 🌊 The 136th annual celebration for the Icelandic Festival of Manitoba, also known as Islendingadagurinn, takes place in Gimli this weekend with a four-day schedule featuring food, drink, music, art, special guests and various entertainment at venues throughout the lakeside community. For a complete list of events and for more information see Today's must-read At age 41, Gene Malcom doesn't take freedom for granted — not after spending more than four years collectively in solitary confinement. Beginning when he was 14 at the Manitoba Youth Centre and continuing over the next 23 years at various provincial correctional facilities, Malcom has tallied a total of 1,600 days in segregation. The longest stretch lasted 159 consecutive days. Today, he says he sometimes opens and closes his home's front door just to remind himself what it's like to be free. Widespread use of solitary confinement in Manitoba correctional facilities is the subject of a class-action lawsuit that is scheduled to go to trial in November. Matthew Frank has the story. A segregation cell at the Manitoba Youth Centre. (Supplied) On the bright side Canadians are staying home in droves this summer. According to a June Leger poll, 77 per cent of travellers are heading east, west and north across the country, but definitely not south. Only 10 per cent plan to travel to the U.S. With that in mind, Free Press writers and editors reflect on some of their favourite Canadian haunts, destinations and memories from years gone by. Read more. A view from the canoe on the South Saskatchewan River. (Russell Wangersky / Free Press) On this date On Aug. 1, 1961: The Winnipeg Free Press reported the city might get a new early-closing bylaw that could see the rules dealing with closing hours thrown out, or a revised version of the existing bylaw that would allow late opening one night per week instead of Friday and Saturday. Amid the Berlin Crisis, United States secretary of defence Robert McNamara said nuclear bombs would be used if necessary to respond to 'Soviet aggression.' The six nations of the European Common Market agreed to open negotiations with the United Kingdom's government for Britain's entry into the economic community. Read the rest of this day's paper here. Search our archives for more here. Today's front page Get the full story: Read today's e-edition of the Free Press .
Winnipeg Free Press
2 days ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
What's up: Movie night, Jacques Demy, Islendingadagurinn, Pile x Ali Wan Kenobi, The Sadies, walking tour
SUPPLIED A double header of movies will be screened Fridays in August at Assiniboine Park's Lyric Theatre. SUPPLIED A double header of movies will be screened Fridays in August at Assiniboine Park's Lyric Theatre. Part of Assiniboine Park's summer entertainment series, Movie Night makes a return with its usual double bill of offerings during two time slots Fridays – an early showing at 6:30 p.m. and a late feature at 8:45 p.m. Kicking things off tomorrow is the animated classic The Lion King followed by Mufasa. The bill on Aug. 8 starts with Pixar's Inside Out 2, followed by Twilight. On the third Friday in August, the adorable Minions will take over the screens in Despicable Me 4, and the late feature is Thunderbolts*. The season ends with tearjerkers Wild Robot and Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande's Wicked on Aug. 22. Lyric Theatre's concession stand will be sell popcorn, ice-cream and other snacks. — AV Kitching The Winnipeg Art Gallery-Qaumajuq and the Winnipeg Film Group have teamed up for a rooftop screening series in August focusing on the vividly colourful, fantastical work of French New Wave filmmaker Jacques Demy. The mini-retrospective begins with 1964's The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, a whimsical, candy-coloured movie musical starring Catherine Deneuve as Genvieve, an umbrella-shop owner's daughter who falls in love with Guy, a handsome garage mechanic played by Nino Castelnuovo, only for him to be sent away to war. Scored by frequent collaborator Michel Legrand, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg won the Palme d'Or at the 1964 Cannes Film Festival, was nominated for five Academy Awards and made Deneuve a star. The series will continue with screenings of Donkey Skin (1970) on Aug. 15 and The Young Girls of Rochefort (1967) on Aug. 29. Screenings start at 9:15 p.m. Note: these films are in French with English subtitles. — Jen Zoratti MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS 'Vikings' will demonstrate warfare tactics during the Icelandic Festival in Gimli on Saturday afternoon. MIKE DEAL / FREE PRESS 'Vikings' will demonstrate warfare tactics during the Icelandic Festival in Gimli on Saturday afternoon. The 136th annual celebration Icelandic Festival of Manitoba, also known as Islendingadagurinn, takes place in Gimli this weekend with a four-day schedule featuring food, drink, music, art, special guests and various entertainment at venues throughout the lakeside community. Among events running all weekend are the midway and rides, Vingólf beverage gardens, the historically inspired viking village (including combat demonstrations), craft vendors, art displays and live music. For the wee ones there's plenty of children's entertainment and a petting zoo. Friday sees the festival's first VIP cocktail reception at Johnson Hall, featuring music from local and Icelandic musicians. Next to the water, the beach volleyball tournament and sand castle contest kick off on Saturday morning before local and visiting contestants undertake remarkable feats of strength at the fourth annual Magnus Classic strongman competition starting at noon at the foot of the viking statue. On the pier, the inaugural Islendinga-Derby fishing contest takes place from 1-4 p.m. If you're around later in the evening, a fireworks display happens at 10:30 p.m. over the harbour. Cheer on the runners in the annual one-mile, five-kilometre and 10-mile road races at 8 a.m. or enjoy the pancake breakfast that also gets going around that time. Check out the annual fris-nok tournament at noon, a locally created game where contestants throw a flying disc to try and knock a beer bottle off a post, and the Islendingadunk contest at 4 p.m., where contestants sit on a soapy pole over the harbour and try to knock their opponent into the water with a wet sponge-filled sack. Monday sees the annual parade get rolling at 10 a.m., with a number of activities continuing throughout the day, including the scholarship award presentation and traditional program in the afternoon featuring Icelandic President Halla Tómasdóttir. Admission to most events is free, with food and drink available for purchase throughout the festivities and ride tickets available at the midway. For a complete list of events and for more information see — Ben Sigurdson The mysterious local producer Ali Wan Kenobi has teamed up with local rapper Pile to release an EP, launching at Public Domain Friday. The mysterious local producer Ali Wan Kenobi has teamed up with local rapper Pile to release an EP, launching at Public Domain Friday. Ali Wan Kenobi keeps pumping it out. That's the monicker for the mysterious local producer who seems to put out a new mixtape of lo-fi house and hip hop every month or two. (Last we checked his bandcamp, he'd produced over 30 of such short albums since the pandemic.) But quantity doesn't always trump quality even when the former is in strong supply and Ali has long been immersed in the most experimental styles of Internet-centric 'boom bap' beats. For the second time in the past year, Ali has teamed up with a local rapper to produce a vocal-driven EP heralded by a release show at the Public Domain. Last time it was Dill, this time it's rapper-visual artist Pile, whose grit, rasp and wit brings to mind the early sounds of Tyler, the Creator. Despite obviously drawing heavily on samples in his beats, Ali tends to pepper his shows with live instrumentalists and singers. This one's no different, featuring a who's who of the local hip hop and R&B scene. —Conrad Sweatman Chris Young / The Canadian Press files The Sadies are one of the best live bands in the country. Chris Young / The Canadian Press files The Sadies are one of the best live bands in the country. The Sadies can't be stopped. The genre-spanning Toronto band returns to Winnipeg tonight with a show at Blue Note Park just over a year after their last sold-out show at the same outdoor venue. The band — Travis Good (guitar, fiddle mandolin, vocals), Sean Dean (bass) and Mike Belitsky (drums) — has continued touring as a trio following the unexpected death of founder vocalist-guitarist Dallas Good on Feb. 17, 2022 of a coronary condition. The group, which formed in 1994, remains a live force to be reckoned with, offering up a mix of old-school country and western, roots, bluegrass, garage rock and twangy surf during unpredictable sets that have been known to last as long as three hours. Opening the show is local bluegrass outfit the D. Rangers, which has continued as a quartet following the death of beloved fiddle player Don Zueff last October at the age of 73. — Rob Williams Walking tours are ingenious ways to learn a city, even one you think you know. Exercise plus knowledge equals time well spent, especially during Winnipeg's short but glorious summers. This tour takes history-hungry visitors on a trek from the Alloway Arch at The Forks to Dalnavert Museum (61 Carleton St.), the former home of Sir Hugh John Macdonald. Macdonald (1850-1929) is a former premier of Manitoba and the son of John A. Macdonald, Canada's First Prime Minister. Built in 1895, Dalnavert was converted into a museum in 1974 after a top to bottom restoration by the Manitoba Historical Society, including Victorian-era furnishings. The red-brick mansion is now considered one of the finest examples of Queen Anne Revival architecture in Western Canada. This 60-minute walking tour asks: what was life like for people in Winnipeg 100 years ago? In that era, Winnipeg was still being called the 'Gateway to the West' and 'Chicago of the North' but things were changing: the First World War, the Spanish flu pandemic and the 1919 General Strike had already happened and the 1929 Wall Street Crash and the Great Depression were on the horizon. But from the very beginning, Winnipeg's built landscape was shaped by classism and inequality. The tour explores Winnipeg's built landscape, what organizers are calling 'Winnipeg's roots and foundations,' from boom to bust to the present day. The Poverty and Prosperity walking tour is offered every Thursday and Saturday until Aug. 28. Dalnavert also offers a Homeland of the Red River Métis walking tour Aug. 8 at 1:30 p.m. that leaves from the museum. Tickets for this tour are $15 at (members pay $5). — Ariel Gordon
