Last night Cissy and I went with some friends to see the Disney theatrical production of “The Lion King” at the Atlanta Civic Center. The design of scenes, costumes, lighting, masks, puppets, makeup, and sound is absolutely, incredibly awesome!
Years ago I saw the animated movie version. Last night seeing humans with elaborate, creative costumes made the roles come alive for me. The story is so powerful with the universal theme of relationships with family and friends and self.
The play contains much humor and is so entertaining, but also presents great truths. Especially meaningful to me was the relationship of Simba, the son, with Mufusa, his father. To me there are not only obvious human parallels in the story, but images of relationship to a heavenly father.
Simba learns that the power and influence of his father lives on in his life even after his father is gone. The song “They Live in You” is reprised at the end of the play with “He Lives in You.” The scene below was done on a TV show as an excerpt from the original Broadway version of 1997. The live current version we saw last night is much more powerfully produced.
Because disobedience to his father brought tragic consequences, Simba wandered in the wilderness for a long time. He forgets or denies his identity. He has an awakening moment to realize and remember who he is. Below is the animated version of this encounter.
No comments:
Post a Comment