text: I remember when I first heard of the Lion King stage show I thought hmm that is kind of cheesy and then more and more friends would tell omg its an incredible show you have to check it out Once again I thought umreally I cannot picture it And for some reason none of the promo still shots really wowed me eithernnOk so cut to early this year on a previous trip to Vegas I decided to catch the show w a friend after multiple recommendations and all I can say isnnWow what a fantastic stage production and fun show to boot They capture all the raw emotion and tear jerking moments of the animated film and do a wonderful visual translation that is graceful beautiful and funny at the same timennThe theater in in the Mandalay Bay is great and I had seats in the main floor section about rows back from the stage and way off to the side yet I could see all of the show without any problem I do not think there are any bad views in the house Plus the show is a fully immersive experience as dancers actors and singers will pop out from all sides of the theater not just restrict themselves to the stage I am not sure if this is just a Vegas thing or they do this in the other stage shows as well but it definitely has a Cirque du Soleil feel to itnnThey use multiple techniques to capture the look of the animated animals of the African plains and all of them are ingenious and creative down to the purely symbolic sylized costumes of the Lion characters with their cool retractable masks that do not hinder choreography dance to the fully translated cartoony full outfits of Timon Poomba and the Hyenas to what has to be my favorite the stunt stilt walkers in their FULL SCALE giraffe outfits you have to see how they do it to understand it is amazing to seennStory and musical score is essentially the same but with the Mandrill baboon character being elevated to one of the star cast members taking the place of some of the background vocals and narrator The actress who portrayed her they changed from male to female is simply amazing and the actors who played adult Simba Simbas father and Scar are great as well nnYou have to see this show if you loved the movie and even if you have not go see it anyway It will probably inspire you to go rent the movie even if you do not have any kids