Phenomenal cast and musicians! Sound issues..
by TJ on 4/17/24Orpheum Theatre - MinneapolisI’ve been waiting seven years to bring my mom to see The Lion King. I knew she would love it, and she certainly did! We were in the sixth row main floor at the matinee on 4/13/24. I’ve seen it three times before, including on Broadway. The current touring cast is absolutely phenomenal. However, I’m not sure what was going on with the sound, but there were so many moments where we couldn’t understand what was being said. Some of the performers were mic’ed well enough, but then there were other performers where they sounded like they were attempting to speak out of a tin can. Add to that the (amazing) orchestra and the air circulation/conditioning system, and it was difficult to hear the dialogue and some of the singing. I thought it might be where we were sitting, but a friend of mine was at a different performance and was sitting up in the first few rows of the balcony and said he and others around him were struggling to hear the voices too. So.. note to the sound designer/soundboard operator: I get that you might be trying to go for a more “natural” sound, but it’s ok to boost those voices so the audience can hear them over the orchestra and air conditioning. Acoustics can be tricky, but please give us a little more!