These are exciting years for musical theater.

Thirty-five years ago, many music and theater genres were in crisis. Arts literature overflowed with articles about the future — or the lack thereof, actually — of classical music, opera, Broadway, theater, even film and rock.

Remember all those contemporary classical works that alienated audiences? Disco, which raged and died within a decade? Operas that premiered and disappeared? (Probably not — no one even remembers their titles.) Even Disney movies stalled, each a paler version of the last.

And then, something happened.

Historians will be arguing for years what that something was — a "resurgence of romanticism"? or perhaps a "casting off of constraining aesthetic mandates"? — and when and where it began.

What is clear is that we are in a new stylistic era, and we are witnessing its boom years.

"Star Wars," panned by critics, embraced by audiences, changed the movie industry; viable new rock styles emerged and endured; classical composers began to care once again about their audiences; Disney resumed producing hits in animated feature films.

The underlying feeling of "what was, was better" has slowly been replaced with "what's new is better." And one of the most exciting "what's new" phenomenon is happening in musical theater.

Consider the big, new musicals in recent decades: "Les Misérables," "Sweeney Todd," "Miss Saigon," "The Phantom of the Opera," "Aida" and now, "The Lion King." This genre did not exist a generation ago.

What are these?

Like opera, the drama unfolds in music; like Broadway, the stage is heavily miked; like classical music, it has its great composers (Andrew Lloyd Webber, Stephen Sondheim); like film, the productions revel in special effects (falling chandeliers, descending helicopters).

The genre is too new to have its own name, but its distinguishing characteristics are clear: it is a primarily musical genre, international in style and language, and lavish in production, with a vocal style all its own.

Its voices are highly trained, but without the power, precision or finesse of opera; they center on the belt range, but without the brash, more nasal tones of Broadway; and they ornament freely in the style of popular music, but for dramatic effect rather than display.

Its quality of acting is better than in opera, but not as good as theater and film, and the acting works largely because it is supported by music, design and dancing. Its performers also are highly accomplished in multiple areas (dancing, singing, acting), achieving levels that only a worldwide pool of talent could produce.

When "Lion King" officially opens today, Hawai'i audiences will experience a work that took the musical theater world by storm.

"Lion King" was not one of the first of this new genre, but it is a significant milestone, well worth seeing. People remember the work through its music, which became famous because its composer, Elton John, was from the popular music world and because children everywhere fell in love with the animated film. But what made the stage production a phenomenon were the design, choreography, and especially the costumes.

Artist Julie Taymor invented an entirely new concept to representing animated characters on stage, and choreographer Garth Fagan brought them alive. Their innovations are being adapted for other productions, and it is probably no overstatement to say they are redrawing the boundaries of what is possible on stage.

Suddenly (or as suddenly as something can be when it takes 10 to 20 years to coalesce), attending musical theater is exciting again: we are witnessing the birth of a new genre and a new era.