The performance I saw contained several understudies, but the characters are so iconic that it doesn't much matter, and the cast is uniformly strong. Singing honors go to Dan'yelle Williamson as the lioness Nala, though Washington native Marquis Moss (filling in for the adult Simba) and Phindile Mkhize (as the monkey/griot Rafiki) also possess fine sets of pipes.
As Simba's villainous uncle, Scar, Timothy Carter is not as menacing as other actors who have filled the role, but Tony Freeman is in fine comic form as the feather-brained factotum, Zazu.
An occasional song feels extraneous. "I Just Can't Wait to Be King," in which young Simba and young Nala ride atop fanciful puppets, has no narrative purpose or connection to the mysterious, harsh and beautiful Africa that Taymor so painstakingly re-creates.
