As I sat down in my row 13 balcony seat surrounded by a group of amazing friends, I already knew that it was going to be a night to remember. The entire atmosphere of broadway theater never ceases to excite me, especially when the play that is about to be performed is one that I already know and love. As with many children born in the 90's, The Lion King was a huge part of my childhood. I watched the movie on a weekly basis, I had Mufasa and Simba posters framed on my walls, a bedspread plastered with African savanna cartoon animals, and a soundtrack cassette that I would listen to every night as my brother and I went to sleep. Needless to say, I consider myself a pretty die hard Lion King fan.
As the lights dimmed and the African music sounds began to resonate through the theater in a wonderful blend of live music performed by only two men situated on both sides of the stage, the familiar tune of "The Circle of Life" began to come forth, only this time with a Spanish flair. Most of the African chanting was kept relatively the same, but anything that was normally in English was changed to Spanish.
The costumes of all the animals were absolutely mind boggling, there was no animal omitted, no fine detail left undisplayed in this spectacular theater performance. The giraffes were men on all fours but on stilts, the lions typically walked and danced around but all had headpieces that would descend over their faces when the situation called for it, and hyenas were so believable that I often forgot that there were men and women underneath the skeletal structure operating each and every movement, and even the movements of the grass were captured in an inspiring series of dance numbers. The stampede scene was absolutely flawless, Mufasa's fall was even executed in slow motion with strobe lights adding dramatic effect. My favorite musical addition to the broadway play was "Él vive en ti," which is a song that is included in the soundtrack but is not particularly prominent in the movie itself. Mufasa sang a version of this song to Simba when they were having their night of bonding under the stars, and Rafiki performed it once more as she tried to remind Simba of who he really was after seeking him out in the jungle. I cried during both of these scenes, as well as the end of the play when Simba rose to claim his throne.
It is difficult to explain how much my love for Spanish has grown since living here in Spain. I went through the motions in high school and for most of my first year of college, taking the required classes and studying when necessary so that I could get a passing grade and work more toward becoming fluent in the language. Now, I study Spanish because I want to, because it brings me joy, because I love the sounds and the food and the feelings of passion that seep from every syllable of this rich romantic language. So as I saw my favorite childhood disney movie come to life in a theatrically advanced way I had never seen before entirely in the language in Spanish, the emotion I felt took my breath away. I continually had to keep pinching myself to make sure that it was real; that I was in Spain seeing El Rey León, and that I was actually understanding it!
I get chills thinking about this play as I sit in my room typing out this blog post. If you have not seen a broadway portrayal of The Lion King and you have an opportunity, GO. It was worth every cent that I spent on it, I will never forget the night I saw El Rey León for the rest of my life. I wish I had more pictures to share, but I was a law abiding citizen and chose not to sneak any photos or videos on my phone during the performance. However, I will include this photo I snapped of the extremely handsome Mexican man who played the adult version of Simba. It isn't very good quality since it is in fact a picture of a picture, but you can still get an idea of the kind of eye candy I had the privilege to bask in during the show. ¡Disfrútalo! ;)
No comments:
Post a Comment