ORDINAL

posted by James Reel

    This morning, the guy who reads the underwriting credits for NPR newscasts has been promoting a TV show about a famous queen of England; he calls it "Elizabeth One." I suppose it could be the first in an unimaginatively titled series ("Elizabeth Two," "Elizabeth Three"), but really, shouldn't we be referring to the Virgin Queen as "Elizabeth the First"?
    It reminds me of when the now defunct Catalina Theater was showing one of Kenneth Branagh's Shakespeare adaptations, and listed it on the marquee as "Henry the V."

STAGE ROYALTY

posted by James Reel

    One of the Lion King touring companies has come to town, and, surprise, even though it’s a commercial musical, I like it:

Everything you've heard about it for the past nine years is true: The Lion King is a tremendously inventive, visually arresting and often musically compelling stage show that can captivate adults as well as children. And the further it strays from the Disney animated movie, the better it gets. … The stage musical takes the movie only as a starting point; in the music hall, we still have to put up with fart jokes and Elton John, but we are introduced to new elements in every department that take the story's African setting and culture seriously. Experiencing this in the theater is a far richer experience than watching the Disney animation on a DVD.