Timeless tale, spectacle of 'The Lion King' back in Tucson

Coming off the 2021-22 season that included blockbuster runs of “Hamilton,“ “Wicked,” “Hadestown“ and “Pretty Woman” begs the question: How will Broadway In Tucson top itself?

On Thursday, Sept. 15, it answered with a roar of lions, towering giraffes and a thundering elephant parading into Centennial Hall for Disney’s “The Lion King.”

The show, which opened on Wednesday, Sept. 14, and runs through Sept. 25, comes 14 years after Broadway In Tucson presented it in 2006 in the company’s second season in Tucson. Back then, when shows were mounted at Tucson Music Hall (now the Linda Ronstadt Music Hall), 83,000 people attended over the six-week run.

Tickets for this go-around, the show’s 20th year, are selling fast; all of the matinee performances are reportedly sold out and there were few, if any, empty seats Thursday.

There’s a reason for that: “The Lion King” is a timeless spectacle of pure magic.

We could all use a little magic these days to get through the madness.

The spectacle of actors on stilts working elaborate giraffe puppets, a quartet stepping in unison from the folds of a suffocating and no doubt heavy elephant costume, a prancing cheetah and the lions and tigers donning weighty headgear that they operated by lowering and raising their heads so that the animal’s masks nearly covered their faces transformed the Centennial Hall space into a swath of African wildlands.

It’s hard not to feel like a kid again watching the animals, whose puppet costumes were created by the original director Julie Taymor, march through Centennial Hall’s center aisles while Rafiki, the storyteller played by the veteran “Lion King” actor Gugwana Dlamini, sends out the clarion call of “Circle of Life.”

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The puppets were so realistic that you forgot about the actor behind the mask, like when Jürgen Hooper (playing Mufasa’s trusty and uptight red-billed hornbill confidante) flutters about to dissuade the overactive young Simba (Jordan Pendleton) from journeying beyond his father’s kingdom and the subtle head bobs from Mufasa (Gerald Ramsey) and Sarabi (Diamond Essence White) when they introduced their baby cub from the top of Pride Rock.

The story of “The Lion King” is as timeless as Shakespeare’s “MacBeth,” a story that also is about a plot to overthrow a king and steal the throne. King Mufasa, played with a sweet soulfulness by Ramsey, is preparing his only son Simba to succeed him as king of Pride Rock, while Mufasa’s brother, Scar, plots to kill father and son and claim the throne for himself.

Spencer Plachy’s Scar was deliciously devious and self-righteous as he made a deal with the hyenas to help him carry out his murderous plan that led to young Simba leaving the pride and joining Timon and Pumbaa (Tony Freeman and John E. Brady). The pair of misfits added laugh-out-loud humor and, of course, the show’s most popular stick-in-your-subconscious song “Hakuna Matata.”

Like most of Disney’s shows, “The Lion King” ends on a happily-ever-after note after Rafiki discovers that Simba (Aaron Nelson) is alive and convinces him to return to Pride Rock and reclaim the throne from his uncle. And Disney throws in a little morality take-away, as well, as the hyenas turn on Scar.

“The Lion King” kicks off Broadway In Tucson’s 2022-23 season, which also includes “Six: The Musical” Oct. 11-16; “Annie” in January; “Dear Evan Hansen” in February; and “Mean Girls” in March. Broadway In Tucson also is presenting a few concerts, including Mannheim Steamroller on Dec. 6 and a holiday concert with Harry Connick Jr. Dec. 9 in conjunction with Arizona Arts Live.

For showtimes, tickets and more information, visit broadwayintucson.com.