Lion King – a Circle of Life

As I contemplated what I should write about for Theatre Thursday, it dawned on me that I had not truly written about my experience with Lion King Jr. at Central High School.  A major slip on my part.  LOL.

Okay… I wrote about painting the floor here.  I wrote about carving the foam set here.

I wrote a little about the rehearsal process in a few of my family blogs here and here.

And I wrote about makeup, costumes, and backstage here.

I wrote about feelings I had about our choreographer retiring here in my family blog.

I wrote about some to the symbolism and life lessons I learned on a Scripture Sunday blog.  Click here to read those thought.

I loved working on this show.  The rehearsal process was a blast… even if it was like herding cats on crack!  Let me tell you, 66 actors, ranging from 3rd grade to senior, are active and LOUD!  The first few weeks of rehearsal was spent on learning music.  Then, I spent a week on developing character.  I used a couple of the exercises that came with the script.  We worked on how different animals move.  Each group of animals came up with signature walks and movements.  We learned that a family of lions may be a pride, but a family of monkeys was a tribe. A family of beetles is a posse. A family of butterflies is a kaleidoscope and a family of giraffes is a tower.  However, the best exercises were the exercises that brought the kids together as a unit.  This was, by far, the most united cast we have had in a very long time.

We spent 2-3 days a week learning the dances.  I love our choreographer.  She most definitely caught my vision.  The dances truly were beautiful.

My partner in crime worked on the makeup designs, costumes and 180 masks/head dresses.  We were able to borrow a few mask/dead dresses.  However, we needed to make SO many!  Thankfully, there was an army of parents volunteers to help create these head pieces.  Again, check out my backstage blog to see the chaos of getting all these kids ready for the stage.

The show was so beautiful.  I loved how the colors popped.  I loved the characters the kids came up with.  I loved how the costumes turned out.  I LOVED my lighting.  I loved how the set turned out and functioned.  We are getting good at this!

Life moves in cycles.

Life is often not fair, but that shouldn’t stop us from discovering the wonders of the world.

Real friends don’t let you be irresponsible. Real friends stick with you through thick and thin.  They encourage and forgive.  And they add spice to life.

We learn from our experiences… all of them!

Avoid the bad things in life… a.k.a. hyenas.  Distractions and temptation lead us away from real happiness.

Parents are wise… need I say more?

There is no need to worry.  I think we should pray like we trust God fully and then we need to get up and work our tail off like it all depends on us.  That does require “no worries.”

Running away doesn’t solve problems.  It is better to face it head on.

It comes down to family.  Family is who is there for us, come the good and the bad.  Loyalty to family brings us the strength to do hard things.

Sometimes we need a reality check. The wisdom and hard-hitting truths shared by others is what we need to turn thing around… to find what our greatest potential is all about.

Sometimes we need to look harder.

Our “trio is down to two.”  Jeff and I will need to find someone who can fit into our unique way of doing things.  That will be a tall order.

I do love this show.  It has so many great memories, shared new experiences and the close of other experiences.