Yes, there was more to the New York theater scene in 1997 than "The Lion King," although you might not know it because of the extraordinary interest in this dazzling stage adaptation of the Disney animated film.
No doubt about it, "The Lion King" was the Broadway event of the year, and the musical has attracted most of the attention - and ticket buyers.Much of the praise has been heaped on its director-designer, Julie Taymor. And rightly so. Taymor deserves enormous credit for the anthropomorphic wonders she has put on stage at the New Amsterdam Theater, a 1903 art nouveau playhouse restored by Disney on 42nd Street.
There were other heroines besides Taymor in the New York theater in 1997, most of them in plays and musicals on- and off-Broadway. In fact, there was a whole parade of women, starting with Cherry Jones, giving what was the year's best performance in Tina Howe's "Pride's Crossing," a production of Lincoln Center Theater.
And there were more star turns:
-Janet McTeer's volatile, edgy Nora in the hit revival of "A Doll's House" by Henrik Ibsen, who, for a while last spring, was Broadway's hottest playwright, even though he died in 1906.
-Patti LuPone's bitter, acerbic portrait of a wounded middle-aged daughter done in by her parents in "The Old Neighborhood," David Mamet's tough-minded look at contemporary Jewish life.
-L. Scott Caldwell's wise and world-weary maid in Neil Simon's "Proposals," a wry look at several mixed-up relationships, set in the Poconos in the 1950s.
-Shirley Knight as the tremulous mother in "The Young Man From Atlanta," Horton Foote's haunting drama about family secrets. The play only had a brief life on Broadway, which more and more has proven inhospitable to serious works.
The most unexpected off-Broadway hit was "Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde," Moises Kaufman's fascinating dissertation on the legal troubles of the famous playwright. The drama started life at a tiny off-off-Broadway theater and later moved off-Broadway where it is still flour-ishing.
"How I Learned to Drive," Paula Vogel's unsparing look at child molestation, was the year's most unnerving play. The off-Broadway drama's effectiveness was enhanced by David Morse's chilling portrait of an uncle who molested his young niece.
Then there was Antony Sher's brilliant portrayal of British painter Stanley Spencer. Yet it couldn't save Circle in the Square from collapsing and going out of business.
Although "The Lion King" dominated the musical scene, there were several surprises. Many of the critics sniffed at "Titanic," the Maury Yeston-Peter Stone version of the infamous 1912 sea disaster.
Yet the production won the Tony Award for best musical, edging out "The Life," Cy Coleman's tawdry look at a seedy Times Square before the arrival of Disney, and became a hit.
The year's most underappreciated musical was "Violet," a charming off-Broadway show by composer Jeanine Tesori and lyricist Brian Crawley, done at Playwrights Horizons.
Several other fine musicals struggled to find audiences. "Triumph of Love" boasted a witty book by James Magruder, a melodic score by composer Jeffrey Stock and lyricist Susan Birkenhead and two powerhouse performers - Susan Egan and Betty Buckley. Alas, it closes Jan. 4, unless the box office picks up.
The year's biggest miss was "The Scarlet Pimpernel," composer Frank Wildhorn's attempt to repeat the success of his other pop musical "Jekyll & Hyde."
"Pimpernel" received some of the most scathing reviews of the year but managed to find an audience with discount tickets.