All righty, here's the Easter challenge list. Let me know if I missed or misqouted you...
Now then, on to The Lion King musical. (Keep in mind I'm terrible at recapping, which is why I don't do trip reports. Dawn would make this sound 100x more exciting then I ever could.) Anyway, it was the 2nd time that we saw it; the first was about 6 months ago when it was about an hour north of us in Appleton, WI. This time it was an hour south of us in Milwaukee. So the fact that I'd be willing to plunk down the money to see it twice, you know it's gotta be good. Granted, it is my 2nd favorite movie of all time (not just 2nd favorite Disney movie, but 2nd favorite movie, period), so I'm a little biased. I get chills every time I hear the African singing at the beginning of The Circle of Life. So keep that in mind, as well. I won't go into it too much, because I don't want to spoil it for those who are going to be seeing it in the near future. But assuming you've seen the animated movie, you know what to expect of the story. The way they dress each of the actors and actresses is brilliant. It is more of a suggestion of what the creature is supposed to be, as opposed to just having actors in animal costumes. For instance, Mufasa's human face is always exposed, and he just wears a lion headpiece that he lowers when he gets angry. There is even a point in the play when the actor controlling Zazu is birdless, yet somehow they make it work in the context of the play. The musical is obviously very true to the original animated film, with only a few changes to make it work better on the stage. They've added a new song or two to help move the story along (I love "He Lives in You", which Rafiki sings during the part when she [yes, Rafiki is a female in the musical] convinces Simba to return to pride rock by showing him a reflection of himself in the water). The beginning sets the mood, and almost makes you believe that you are on the African savannah. The sets are very minimal; again keeping with the theme of just offering a suggestion of what is going on, allowing you to fill in the rest with your imagination. Personally, this is the best show I have ever seen. Now, I've never seen a show on Broadway, so my experience is limited to the different touring shows from the past 5 or so years. But honestly, I can't imagine it getting much better than this.
So that's my brief, sorta rambling recap. My in-laws saw it last weekend, and they loved it; and they had never seen the animated movie before. So that tells me that I'm not just biased.
I hope everyone has a great night!