‘Lion King’ larger than life

TONY DODERO

As the Segerstrom Stage filled with the colorful array of jungle

animals and trees, my wife, Beth, leaned toward me and whispered in

my ear.

“The girls would love this,” she said.

Yes, they would.

My two daughters would love the stage production of Disney’s “The

Lion King,” probably not so much for the sheer artistry that the

production has managed to create on the Orange County Performing Arts

Center stage, but for its near word-for- word likeness of the

animated movie of the same name.

The play was like visiting old friends, thanks to the vast

collection of “Lion King” DVDs and musical cassettes within our

Disney-decorated household.

This is quite an accomplishment for me.

When I first got married, I remember my wife organized a game of

Disney trivia with some other couples.

Let’s just say when the questions about movies including “The

Little Mermaid,” “Beauty and the Beast,” and “The Lion King” came up,

I probably looked a lot like “Ed” one of the babbling hyenas from the

play.

But heck, I’m practically a Disney trivia genius now.

And I can’t believe I’m actually saying this, because I usually

leave this stuff to our theater critic Tom Titus, but this show

really rocks.

The costumes and stage effects are practically a work of art in

themselves, as are the songs -- winners of numerous awards, including

Grammys -- like “Hakuna Matata,” “Circle of Life,” and “I Just Can’t

Wait to be King.”

The musical is being billed as one of the biggest, if not the

biggest, production to hit the Center, and it’s easy to see why.

On Broadway, “The Lion King,” directed by Julie Taymor, is in its

eighth year and has snared six Tony Awards, including best musical.

The Costa Mesa production is one of eight others touring the country.

So if it wasn’t bad enough that I was impersonating Tom Titus that

night, I also got to play society writer B.W. Cook and take my wife

to an after-hours party at Jewel Court in South Coast Plaza.

We sipped a few glasses of the grape and tried to pick out who was

who among “The Lion King” cast members milling about the shopping

center, sans their costumes.

That was also a lot of fun, even though we went way past our

bedtime and paid for it dearly the next day.

I thought it was worth it, and I bet many of our readers would

too.

“The Lion King” runs through April 24. For information on tickets,

times and prices call the Center at (714) 556-2787 or go to the

website at https://www.ocpac.org.

It’s a small world after all.

Forgive me for yet another Disney reference, but that’s how I was

feeling Wednesday as I was giving a seminar to the Volunteer

Resources Center in Santa Ana.

I have volunteered my efforts to that center now for the last

several years to offer advice to nonprofit groups on how to access

the media.

I give them the usual tips: Don’t call on deadline (late

afternoon, early evening), and don’t write fluffy press releases with

limited facts.

Just as I’m getting started with the lecture in walks a familiar

face -- Aviva Goelman from the Costa Mesa Senior Center.

So, if you start seeing a lot of senior center stories on the

front page of the newspaper, now you’ll know why.

* TONY DODERO is the editor. He may be reached at (714) 966-4608

or by e-mail at tony.dodero @latimes.com.