Play Review: Narnia

IT’S ALWAYS RISKY when you buy tickets for a stage or film adaptation of a beloved book. Taking my grandchildren to see Narnia, the musical, I really hoped the play would not mess too much with C.S. Lewis’ 1950’s classic, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.   

Posted Date : 2025-12-09 12:05:00

Based on The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis 

Adapted & Directed by Fiona Sauder

Music & Lyrics by Landon Doak  

A Co-production of Soulpepper, Bad Hats and Crow’s Theatres 

Reviewed by Sue Careless

IT’S ALWAYS RISKY when you buy tickets for a stage or film adaptation of a beloved book. Taking my grandchildren to see Narnia, the musical, I really hoped the play would not mess too much with C.S. Lewis’ 1950’s classic, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.  

The world has changed a lot in the intervening 75 years. The male professor in the book is now a woman. No problem with that. The actress also doubles as Aslan. I can live with that. After all, in George MacDonald’s The Princess and the Goblin, it is the princess’ grandmother who represents the divine. 

The four children wear modern clothes—no frocks for Susan and Lucy. Fine. Susan, who brandished only a bow and arrow in the book, is now fighting the evil White Witch with a sword. Fine. 

The four children in the book are bickering siblings, not orphans who become friends. Okay, but it is much easier to rid yourself of troublesome mates than annoying sibs. The switch was made to stress through script and song that a chosen family is what really matters.

This is even more apparent in the new casting of Mr. and Mrs. Beaver; they are now portrayed in a highly affected manner as a loving Mr. and Mr. Beaver. 

The spiritual identity of the four children is also erased in the musical. No longer are Peter and Edmund addressed as “sons of Adam,” nor Susan and Lucy as “daughters of Eve.” 

Another disappointing change was in one of the key lines. Lewis wrote that under the White Witch’s century-long rule of Narnia, “It is always winter but never Christmas.” Now the script has been secularized: “It is always winter but never spring.” 

In the book, when Aslan enters Narnia, Father Christmas does too, bringing a festive banquet to a merry party of forest creatures. When the Wicked Witch spies this “indulgence,” she turns the helpless group into stone statues.  

There is no mention of Father Christmas or the festival of Christmas on the stage. Yet ironically, in the theatre’s lobby there is a Santa Claus welcoming families for a photo op.

In Narnia the musical, the theme is one simply of the seasons changing in the natural world along with the changing seasons of our lives. Certainly, memory and imagination are celebrated, which would please Lewis, but the transcendent, the eternal, seems sadly absent. 

But other key elements of the original story are retained: Edmund’s lying about his knowledge of Narnia, his enrapture initially with the White Witch and his betrayal of his siblings. He eventually repents of his folly and Aslan forgives him. Yet the White Witch demands a sacrifice and Aslan offers to die in Edmund’s place. 

Often modern children’s theatre tends to play down evil and its horrific consequences. World War II had ended just five years before The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe was published. Lewis had himself fought had himself fought in World War I. So it is not surprising that he creates a fierce hand-to-hand battle in which all four children engage, and Aslan kills the White Witch.

Now, 75 years later, we still have war raging in Europe and elsewhere in the world. Given this current context, it is good that the crucial battle scene is retained in the musical. 

Narnia was commissioned by the Manitoba Theatre for Young People and received its premier there in December, 2023. (C.S. Lewis’ books are in the public domain in Canada but not in the United States or the UK.)      

While I have some serious reservations about Sauder’s and Doak’s adaptation, the production values are terrific. It would be hard to find a more energetic and talented cast. Every actor could also sing and play a musical instrument, so the theatre jumped and stomped to the sounds of piano, guitar, and accordion. 

Sierra Haynes who played Susan could stroke a mean fiddle and Amaka Umeh almost stole the show as she strutted through her songs as the sinister but seductive White Witch. 

The choreography was excellent. All the actors could leap and bound over the sets with ease. Particularly memorable was the scene in which the coats in the wardrobe seem to come alive and dance all over the stage.

Full marks to Shannon Lea Doyle as set and costume designer. She cleverly transformed the professor (Astrid Van Wieren) into a lion with just the sweep of a huge golden mantle.  

While the music was always lively and engaging, there is the danger that some key moments in the story might get rushed or lost entirely in a mere 90-minute production, especially for the child who has not heard or read the book or seen the 2005 film.

Still, hopefully many in the audience who haven’t experienced the novel will now feel inspired to open it and explore more fully Lewis’ Narnia.       

Narnia runs until Jan. 4  at Soulpepper Theatre in Toronto.

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