Get your tickets for The Lion King. An animation is at its best when it's situated in animal domain. It's only right then that animals, so far as we reading and writing creatures are concerned, are rendered best with animation. This sort of talk may not necessarily speak for itself, but then you go and see the film (a panoramic vision) called, "The Lion King" and by then it should make perfect sense.

These are some of the odds that tower over a director hoping to convert the 1994 film to the relatively bare realm of theatre. But anyone can be merely successful with the sure fire while those with a certain visionary something probably don't have much use for the word. With the films "Oedipus Rex," "Titus," and "Frida," under her very industrious belt, it seems Julie Taymor is the only one you'd ever want piloting something so unlikely. Over forty actors are assembled in the name--you get the impression--of sheer joy. True, there's the need for the young Lion King, Simba (exuded by Brandon Victor Dixon) to triumph past the corrupt and counterfeit sovereignty of his uncle Scar (Larry Yando) and his convincingly repugnant hyena lackeys (Shetland Lacombe, Melvin Abston and Brian Sills), but happiness happens all the while: puppets, fashioned around costumes, jig and prance and hoof it, while kites wing about as birds, not to mention the masks, whose lush designs mesmerize. Should your evening come to a decision between this production and the circus, be not conflicted: "The Lion King" has a simulated elephant lumbering on stage. The movement and physique of these animals are so true to form and character that even the least willing to suspend disbelief are still very much subject to entranced wonder. The giraffes teeter, the antelopes are spry, the zebras are aloof while the raw materials and fabrics used in their designs are as primitive and robust as the show's accompanying African landscape and percussion. If this production sounds at all like pure spectacle, that might well be owing to the fact that it is, although that really doesn't begin to explain it. See it. "The Lion King" plays at The Ford Oriental, Cadillac Palace, Auditorium and Lasalle Bank Theatre and then proceeds to play again and again throughout conversation with most anyone whose had the pleasure. Don't miss out on getting your tickets to explore and see this wonderful animal kingdom.