Ever since we've been out here in New York Abi's said that she wanted to go and see the Lion King, so it seemed like the perfect thing to do for her birthday.
The Miskoff Theatre was very impressive - right in the middle of Times Square, with amazing views of all the billboards and flashing lights, down on all the traffic. It felt like a very modern theatre, not like the other theaters we've been to in New York.
It was a packed house, and everyone seems very excited to be seeing the show - not as excited as me and Abi were though. I'd been wanting to see the Lion King again ever since we all went to see it in London not long after it came out. It's been going strong ever since and hasn't aged at all.
All the puppetry and costumes and set designs were just breath-taking. The animal puppets were so, so clever - right at the beginning there's a cheetah puppet who strides on, and cleans behind it's ear - all controlled by the dancer - it was so realistic, just that puppet alone got a huge round of applause in the first scene.
The opening scene was very moving, it was so stunning and the music was so beautiful, it was hard not to get a bit emotional (I got a bit more than a little emotional - luckily it was dark so no-one could see though!).
The story sticks close to the film, with some additional songs and a couple of extra story lines - but they'd managed to make it feel unique, and not just a stage version of a film. The actors were absolutely amazing, especially Rafiki, Scar and Zazu.
We both really enjoyed it - it was well worth the wait to see it. It brought back a lot of memories of Swaziland for me, especially hearing some of the Siswati words that we learnt, in the songs.
At the end, the cast got a standing ovation - deservedly so, it was an incredible, incredible show... a roaring success you might say!
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