The Lion King

On Wednesday 17th October I was lucky enough to go and watch The Lion King at Bristol Hippodrome.  It was honestly the most beautiful and moving piece of theatre I have ever seen.

Everyone had always talked about this show and how amazing it was and how I needed to go and watch it because it would 'change my life'.  I, obviously, didn't believe them.  I thought that they didn't really know about the stage and musical theatre and were just thinking the whole idea of it was wonderful.  Oh how wrong I was.   Throughout the opening of the show I was in tears.  The movement of these dancers was just so beautiful and controlled, so accurate to the animals that they were portraying and the music was just so powerful.  

Basically guys, this woman stands on the edge of the stage and starts to sing 'The Circle of Life' and you cry and you have no idea why you're crying. Her voice is so emotive and pure and you just want to be able to sing like her (IN AFRICAN!!!)

There is one song in the show called 'They live in you' and it will send shivers down your spine.  It's a song sung my Mufasa (Simba's father) about how the great kings of the past are watching over you and and live inside of you.  IT'S SO GORGEOUS. The Mufasa in this production was amazing.  His voice was a rich Baritone and it just worked.  Combined with all the instruments (mostly drums) it was enough to make even the worst musical theatre haters accept the beauty of African musical genius.

An appreciation paragraph for the dancers is needed. 
These people are amazing.  The amount of control needed for these dances and pure skill was just immense.  I did not see a dancer put a single foot wrong (and trust me, I was watching).  Their attention to detail was incredible - there was one woman with a leopard puppet.  Oh my literal goodness.  She cannot have been on the stage for more than 5 minutes in the whole show but by Geoffrey was she amazing.  Her shoulders were slinking back and forth like a cat whilst her head was attached to that of the puppet so when she rolled hers so did the leopard.  At one point the leopard reared up on its back legs and she just stretched back so her head was so nearly touching the floor.  GAAAH.  Why can I not do this!? I am sat at my computer applauding you, oh great dancer people.  You deserve world wide recognition.

I walked out of that theatre thinking "What the Hell am I doing with my life? Why am I not doing this and being a freaking antelope in the Lion King?"

Watch the show.  Seriously.
Oh, and keep smiling and loving that Chay.