Mandalay Bay’s ‘Lion King’ magical stage production

Watching "The Lion King" at its Friday Mandalay Bay opening, I was struck by how much this show celebrates theatrical conventions. It's all about telling a story through stage fakery. You're not likely to look at it and say, "What a movie this would make!" or "What a TV show!" -- at least not this version -- because its beauty is so uniquely stage bound. It's the sort of experience that can get you hooked on theater, because it weaves a magic that only live performance can spin.

I remember the groans in some circles when Disney Productions announced it would be bring their 1994 animated hit to Broadway. Was Disney going to turn Broadway into its own brand of wholesome muck? But theater lovers were stunned when Disney picked Julie Taymor to be in charge. Here was an artist widely recognized in New York for her creative abilities with visuals (puppets especially) but who never had had a major show. Could it be that Disney's bucks were going to be used to improve Broadway? -- and give a career to a major but struggling visionary?

The answer is on display at Mandalay Bay in what is, for me, the best New York "import" I've seen on the Strip. You can quibble with its sometimes mediocre score and patchwork story (about a cub who has to learn to grow emotionally into a ruler), but there's barely a moment when you're not gaping at how the production gets from Point A to Point B. It took guts to bring this 21/2-hour version to Vegas, a town not known for its attention span. The bravery deserves a huge payoff. ...

"Shear Madness," at its own theater in the Town Square shopping center, is a small-scaled murder mystery that turns interactive in the second act. It's been a great crowd-pleaser over the years, but I find the script hopeless. It's full of puns that should have long ago been retired. (A character comments, "You can say that again!," and sure enough the other guy says it again.) But the new production deserves a run for its remarkable seven-member cast. They're first-rate comics and skilled actors, all of different (mostly neurotic) types. There's a problem, though, at the heart of these shows, like "The Mystery of Edwin Drood," in which the audience gets to decide the killer. A good mystery should surprise us at the end; we should gasp when we realize who done it. ...

Las Vegas Little Theatre is continuing to extend its wings by offering an interactive theater production at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Saturday for kids ages 9 to 12. Adult actors and teens will be sharing the stage with the children performing improvisational games and scenes. Tickets are $5 at the door, free for those under school age. For more information, call 362-7996.

Anthony Del Valle can be reached at DelValle@aol.com. You can write him c/o Las Vegas Review-Journal, P.O. Box 70, Las Vegas, NV 89125.