The Lion King on Broadway

We took the kids to see The Lion King on Broadway this afternoon at the Minskoff Theater in New York City. It was a great show. The theater is small, and the actors often come out into the audience throughout the performance, so there was not a bad seat in the house. They have booster seats available for kids, but the seats are offset from row to row, so sightlines are excellent.

Having seen the movie more times than I can count, I know the story very well, and thought that I would be a little bored.  Was I wrong!  Yes, the plot was very familiar, but I was in awe of the ingenious costumes.  Designed by the brilliant Julie Taymor, the costumes more than met the challenge of making African animals come to life on stage. The entire production was so well done.

It was FREEZING in the city today, so we didn't venture too far afield this time. We parked at the garage in Port Authority, and had lunch there at Villa Pizza before venturing out into the frigid, windy weather. The theater wasn't letting patrons in just yet, so we killed some time at Broadway souvenir shop just across the street, where we could watch to see when the theater was allowing the audience to go in. Once inside the theater, there are big windows on the upper level overlooking Times Square--a great place to "people watch".  There was a panhandler down below on the street outside the theater, holding a big cardboard sign that said, "Need Money For Weed. Why Lie?"

I love New York.