Kids can take pride from a roaring good show

The Lion King Jr Directed by Richard Carruthers Nelson Youth Theatre Theatre Royal, until July 20

Looking for a way to warm up this winter? Look no further than Nelson Youth Theatre’s production of The Lion King Jr. Watching the African savannah come to life on stage made me feel like I was soaking up the warmth of the African sun.

This Disney musical follows lion cub Simba on his journey to adulthood and the fulfilment of his destiny as King of the Pridelands. It’s a condensed version, running for just over an hour, so is great school holiday entertainment.

Director Richard Carruthers and the youth theatre team are to be congratulated on a visually impressive show. I can only describe the opening scene as ‘‘Wow!’’ – and the rest of the audience obviously felt the same, judging from their enthusiastic response.

The creative effort which has gone into the superb costumes and excellent stage pieces is to be commended. Much of the magic of The Lion King show for me comes from the wonderful songs by Elton John and Tim Rice, and the opening-night cast did themselves proud. Both ensemble and solo performances hit the right note.

Vaughn Birss (young Simba) and Joelle Noar (young Nala) gave strong performances, as did Joel Sangster and Megan Brennan as the older versions of the characters.

Georgie Horncastle and Ella Danson as Timon and Pumba did a great job as the comic relief, and my children’s favorite was baboon Refiki (Holly Cameron). I particularly enjoyed Matthew Edgar’s deliciously devious performance as Scar, the villain of the show.

I’ll leave the final comment to the woman I overheard behind me as the curtain came down: ‘‘That was amazing!’’