Hamburg

[schneefink]

Back from Hamburg! Our first "proper" family vacation (elsewhere than with other family) in several years, it was nice. We had a tour at the Elbphilharmonie, the new concert hall, which looks great and is architecturally very interesting, and walked up several hundred stairs to the tower of St. Michael because the elevator at St. Nikolai was broken, and had an argument which town hall looks more impressive, the one in Hamburg (mom) or the one in Vienna (everybody else) – we could only judge the outside because sadly there was an event and we couldn't get a tour. We also spent several hours in the world's largest model railway miniature world, which spans several rooms and countries and continents; my favorite parts were the ice bears walking up the dam, the penguin in the bouncing castle, the Easter bunny school, and other fun details like that.

And we saw The Lion King! The costumes and staging etc. were amazing (the giraffes! and elephants! and birds! and antelopes! Etc. etc.), and "Circle of Life" almost brought me to tears. My favorite was Zazu, the puppet was amazing. (Though, German language note: Zazu addressed Mufasa with "Sie, " usually the polite address in German, but by far not polite enough for a king, he should have used "Ihr. " That bothered me more than it probably should ^^ ) I also loved the scene where he's kept in a cage by Scar and has to sing for him: idk if he picks the same songs every time, but in our version he started with "Nobody knows the troubles I've seen, " and when Scar wanted something "with more oom-pa-pa" started "Atemlos durch die Nacht, " the entire theater cracked up. Zazu providing background vocals for the hyenas shortly afterwards was also hilarious.
The adaption was very faithful to the film! And maybe seeing the musical in German helped not to make too many comparisons. They added some things I didn't like as much, like Scar trying to woo Nala, and some I liked, like Nala's song "Shadowland. " The first half was stronger, story-wise, in the second I was reminded too often that it's a children's story, and/or started overthinking things. Like why Simba never thinks of Sarabi. Or how little "suddenly, love! " narratives work for me. Or how it disappointed me that when Scar asked Zazu "what did Mufasa have that I don't", Zazu said "adoring subjects, a loving family etc. ", because these are the things Scar feels Mufasa was given. Or how much this is a perfect example of why absolute and hereditary monarchies suck. Or how the balance that the lions want and Simba restores includes the hyenas starving, of course they wanted better.

More notes on Hamburg: the traffic lights are terrible. Way too often I started crossing the street right when the light went green and it was already red again before I finished crossing. No blinking phase either. How do slow people manage? Public transport at least seemed good (but most of it looked inaccessible to wheelchair users…) There are many pretty buildings, and I also enjoyed the boat tour. (As citizen of a landlocked country, I'm not used to paying attention to the tides!) We also had a guided tour through St. Pauli, very much 18+, which was, idk, interesting but not fascinating I guess.

So that was vacation number one, and I leave for Dublin in about 24 hours *excited and anxious flailing* Sure I still haven't planned half of it but it'll be great.

Comments

[tielan]

Yes, they vary Zazu's "upbeat" song according to country. I have a vague memory of Zazu singing something recognisably pop - possibly Britney?

Glad you enjoyed it!

[schneefink]

Yeah, of course it would be something different in non-German-countries, and once I thought about it I realized that of course they vary it in different years because "Atemlos" only came out a few years ago and they've been playing the musical in Hamburg for longer.

[krait]

Do we see anything that implies most of the hyaenas are starving? We certainly see three of them act like they're not well-fed, but those three are established to be rather incompetent...

I find it hard to believe that Scar could raise a tasteless Nazi parody entire marching troop of hyaenas if they're all starving to death. I thought it was more a case of the hyaenas seeking to eliminate a competing predator (lions and hyaenas hunt the same prey) by aggressively expanding their territory (hence the Nazi allusion).

But I've only seen the original animated movie and the Broadway adaptation, not the live-action film, so maybe there's a difference that accounts for it.

Zazu sounds adorable! It would be neat to see a list of the funny second song choices chosen in each language. :D

[schneefink]

Idk about the "live-action" film, I only saw the German musical and don't remember the animated film that well. I think we're meant to think of the hyenas as greedy, but what is actually shown is that they're hungry and claim to be starving when meeting Scar, and later when the herds have fled complain that now they're hungry again, they were promised they wouldn't have to be hungry anymore.

I'd love a list like that!

[krait]

Ahh, I see. Well, at least we both have dodged Disney's Live Action Remake craze. :D

The animated film is still pretty much my favourite Disney animation, so I have watched it a lot, though not in the last couple years because I seem to have lost my copy.

Animationwise, we see Shenzi & Banzai complain that they're hungry, but nothing that suggests this is a species-wide problem rather than these three in particular being poor hunters. (They definitely fall into the "bungling henchmen" Disney trope, and we see them let a prospective meal escape because they're too busy goofing off.) All the goose-stepping background hyaenas are drawn identically, so no indications there, either, beyond their sheer numbers.

Speaking of those numbers, though... I have a zoology degree, and that definitely shapes my reactions to fictional animal characters. For me "we were hungry before, and now we're hungry again" is pretty much just how I expect a predator's life to go? Predator numbers multiply, prey gets scarce, predators die off, prey becomes abundant, rinse-repeat. The "circle of life" doesn't turn smoothly; it takes sharp course corrections to stay round, and one of those is periods of hunger and population reduction. Coming from a predator, wanting to never be hungry again sounds like a kid wishing they could have chocolate cake every single day forever - it's something that sounds amazing but they don't seriously expect it, and neither would any other animal on the savannah.

If there are a thousand hyaenas marching on the Pridelands, a fair number of them probably are hungry! There's no way their territory could support that many individuals. That sounds like a predator population peak, so prey is probably scarce and there would be heavy pressure toward scavenging or stealing lion kills, and/or changing territory. (We have pretty strong evidence the lions do this; Sarabi is shocked when Scar refuses to follow the herds.) Large numbers of hyaenas entering a new territory and clashing with their most competitive species in response to food scarcity is a pretty natural part of the circle of life, Hamlet subplot aside. :D

...Man, I don't have any lion, Hamlet, Disney, OR hunting icons? That's a bummer.

[schneefink]

You are right of course about predators always being hungry etc., but The Lion King is already so far removed from (what I know about) actual animals, like lions being kings of the land etc., that I took comments like that more as deliberate/characterization choices than something natural. But I'm already way overthinking a children's movie ^^

[out_there]

Or how much this is a perfect example of why absolute and hereditary monarchies suck. Or how the balance that the lions want and Simba restores includes the hyenas starving, of course they wanted better.

Um, yeah, I noticed that when I saw the live show. You do suddenly notice the kids tone to the story, especially in the second half. And while the hyenas wanted better, yes, I got the impression that the ecosystem couldn't afford the hyenas eating as much as they wanted -- i.e. there was too much hunting under Scar's rule and it impacted what was left.

So maybe it's less that the hyenas were starving as the hyenas were always hungry and wanting to eat. (Weird distinction, I know, but does that make sense?)

[schneefink]

Yeah, I think that's what it was meant to be, that the hyenas were eating more than they needed, but it wasn't clear. (Also, I hate the concept of evil races.)

[el_staplador]

I didn't manage to see the town hall in Vienna, but the one in Hamburg is certainly impressive. And I loved the model railway, would happily go back and spend several more hours there.

[schneefink]

The model railway was so great! I think we were there for about five hours, which was enough for one day because I was worried I was starting to forget things, but if I lived closer I'd definitely go more often.