Track Listing

1. Circle of Life - Faca Kulu, Tsidi Leloka, Lebo M.
2. Grasslands Chant - Max Casella, Heather Headley, Geoff Hoyle, Tsidi Leloka, Lebo M., Jason Raize, Tom Alan Robbins
3. Morning Report - Lebo M.
4. Lioness Hunt - Geoff Hoyle, Scott Irby-Ranniar, Kajuana Shuford
5. I Just Can't Wait to Be King - Kevin Cahoon, Tracy Nicole Chapman, Stanley Wayne Mathis
6. Chow Down - Samuel E. Wright
7. They Live in You - Kevin Cahoon, Tracy Nicole Chapman, Stanley Wayne Mathis, John Vickery
8. Be Prepared
9. Stampede
10. Rafiki Mourns - Tsidi Leloka
11. Hakuna Matata - Max Casella, Scott Irby-Ranniar, Jason Raize, Tom Alan Robbins
12. One by One - Lebo M.
13. Madness of King Scar - Kevin Cahoon, Tracy Nicole Chapman, Heather Headley, Geoff Hoyle, Stanley Wayne Mathis, John Vickery
14. Shadowland - Heather Headley, Tsidi Leloka
15. Lion Sleeps Tonight - Lebo M.
16. Endless Night - Jason Raize
17. Can You Feel the Love Tonight - Max Casella, Heather Headley, Jason Raize, Tom Alan Robbins
18. He Lives in You (Reprise) - Tsidi Leloka, Jason Raize
19. Simba Confronts Scar
20. King of Pride Rock/Circle of Life (Reprise) - Geoff Hoyle, Scott Irby-Ranniar, Samuel E. Wright

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #487 in Music
• Brand: Disney
• Released on: 1997-11-14
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Cast Recording
• Dimensions: .24 pounds

Amazon.com
An Oscar win might suggest a score that would need a miracle to be bettered--but this colorful stage adaptation of Disney's The Lion King does so with flair. Composers Mark Mancina and Lebo M worked closely together to fuse the movie's many disparate elements. Where there was a veritable army exercising creative influences for the animated tale, this brings it all under the wings of a like-minded few. This is genuinely apparent as one track flows into the next. The African rhythms--both vocal and in instrumentation--come across as authentic and original all at once. No doubt this is largely through Mancina's passion for peculiar instruments and the possibilities suggested from nightly live performances. "Grasslands Chant" is a good place to hear this. The hit favorites are here of course, but both "Circle of Life" and "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" are pleasingly unrecognizable with chorus and shifting beats. Better still is the likelihood they will now be eclipsed by some of the new numbers. Mancina's own "He Lives in You" being a strong contender. With a sound mix as crisp as you'd hope to find, this is rousing stuff. --Paul Tonks

Customer Reviews

Can't Wait to be King
It's a story that rips off everything from HAMLET to one of Japan's favorite animated films. The original score was basically a redo of music from a different film (Hans Zimmer and Lebo M. previously collaborated on THE POWER OF ONE). The songs were by a great singer/songwriter who hadn't ever written a musical, and a lyricist who appeared to have had his best days behind him. And yet, when THE LION KING opened in theaters in 1994, it blew everyone away.

When Disney announced it would hire famed puppet theater director Julie Taymor to adapt the show for Broadway, a collective intake of breath could be heard around the world. Theater enthusiasts felt Taymor was selling out. Disneyphiles worried that the beloved story would be bloated beyond recognition. And the kids? Well, they just couldn't figure out how Simba would get off the screen and onto the stage.

The rest, as they say, is history. Disney's THE LION KING broke all records on Broadway (until THE PRODUCERS, years later), won a record number of Tonys and continues to play to packed houses both on tour and on the Great White Way.

What makes it work? An amazing collaboration between Taymor, Zimmer, Lebo M., John, Rice, and a few others. Where it lacks percussive power due to the nature of a theater orchestra, it makes up in emotional resonance and an increased emphasis on the deep feelings invoked by the story.

The familiar songs from the film are present, although Rafiki is no longer Robert Guillame's wily old baboon. Rafiki is now an extremely wise (though she occasionaly plays the fool) female baboon with some of the best lines, and certainly several of the best vocal moments in the entire show.

The cast is uniformly excellent, with surprising contributions from Samuel Wright (better known as Sebastian the Crab from THE LITTLE MERMAID) as Mufasa. Jason Raize, Heather Hadley, Max Cassella, and the rest of the cast bring the film characters to life (on stage through a combination of puppets, masks, etc.).

What sets the show apart, however, is the "new" stuff included in the songlist. Most of the "new" songs are adaptions of instrumental selections from the score ("Under the Stars" from the film becomes "Endless Night," "This Land," is now Nala's beautiful "Lea Halalelah") or songs written by Lebo M. and Mark Mancina for Disney's follow-up album to the original soundtrack, RETURN TO PRIDE ROCK. The best of these is "He Lives in You," which is heard first as sung by Mufasa, and later by the entire company.

Scar, the hyenas, and Zazu each get their own song (Scar's is a clever way of explaining quickly why Scar gets a little loopy in the story, while the hyenas have a rocking tune about chewing little lion cubs up). Zazu's was so popular it was animated and added to the SPECIAL EDITION of THE LION KING first released in Imax theaters and later on DVD.

The additional songs celebrating African culture and heritage (Rafiki's chants, the Lioness Hunt song, and "One by One") all take the story from contemporary Hollywood studio to traditional African story. It's a huge shift that works because of the awesomeness of the performers.

This is not the animated film soundtrack--it is a deeper listening experience that takes the discerning listener (child or adult) to places that most shows can't (or won't).

It's an idea that should not have worked...but to all our benefits (Disneyphiles, theater lovers, and young at heart), we are definitly thankful it did.

FOLLOWING A BAD TREND, BUT JERKING THE TEARS
If you're thinking of not buying this CD because you already have the movie soundtrack, HOLD IT RIGHT THERE! Not only does the Original Broadway Cast Recording have more songs than there are in the movie, but the original songs have been adapted and, in some cases, lengthened quite a lot. To be honest, there are a few poor attempts of "filler" and trying to add something with a rock edge, but the beautiful, rhythmic african chants and additions such as "Shadowland" and "Endless Night" bring tears to my eyes. They're worth paying for the entire thing. This CD gives you more of an emotional look at all of the characters and their despair. Disney followed the same trend they did with BEAUTY by adding a dozen songs with only a couple worth listening to, but they're tear jerkers and if you just sit back and listen to the chants and ballads, they're sure to touch your heart as they did mine... just skip the stuff in between. But it's a MUST HAVE for anyone even SLIGHTLY interested. Cuz I'm not even a Lion King Movie fan.

I love this cd!
In my opinion, The Lion King is one of the best stories out there. I love the movie and the play. The play's soundtrack is better than the movie's though. With songs that were not even in the movie (The Morning Report, Endless Night, They Live In You, etc) this soundtrack seems more complete. All of the songs featured are incredible. They all have a certain amount of pep that can cheer me up after a hard day. All of the artists featured are incredibley gifted and are going somewhere as far as Broadway goes. I highly reccommend this to anyone who loves The Lion King as much as I do.