Edited by Gerald Boerner
Commentary:
I remember taking my wife to see the musical version of the Lion King at the Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles a few years ago. We had excellent seats and had seen a segment of CBS’s Sunday Morning program about the staging. If anything, the segment had underestimated the awesomeness of the stage version. We had previously taken our kids to see the movie, but it paled in the face of this production. The creative way that the animals were created and moved by the dancers was something that I had never seen before. They jumped if their animal jumped, they moved with majestic deportment if they portrayed a Lion.
This is a production that probably could not have been staged without the creativity and help of Disney. While I don’t normally think of Elton John as a songwriter for musical, his music was incredible as were the lyrics of Tim Rice. I can still see this production in my mind’s eye; I have little desire to watch the video anymore. We will, however, keep the video to show our grandkids when they get to be a little older. It should be a real treat for them.
It is too bad that our culture has gotten to be so based on instant gratification of our senses that we need the “pop, pop, pop” of many television or YouTube videos. We somehow need to reacquaint the current generation with the value of the time and effort needed to create a “real” production. Not everything can be presented in 2-3 minute sound bytes! Sometimes telling a story takes a couple of hours and requires careful preparation, practice, and staging. Not everything can be accomplished on our computers using Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premiere. Hopefully, there will always be real artisans who will carry on the theatrical traditions of the past and apply the emerging creativity of the present to them, such as was done in this production!
But now it is time to jump into our exploration of the musical version of the Lion King… GLB
These Introductory Comments are copyrighted:
Copyright©2011 — Gerald Boerner — All Rights Reserved[ 2987 Words ]
Quotations Related to Lion King:
“Hakuna matata…it means no worries.”
— Disney
“Love is never wrong and so it never dies.”
— Disney
“Somewhere in my secret heart, I know love will find a way.”
— Disney