‘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.
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