The lights dim. I turn from admiring the elaborate walls and ceilings of the Pantages Theatre to the stage, quite unprepared for what I will see.
The stage lights up. A woman cries out for the sunrise, babbling words I cannot comprehend, but it does not matter. The joyous melodies drift from the woman’s voice, flowing in and out of the rows of seats. The sun rises from the stage, finally granting its wooer a glimpse.
A giraffe walks onto the stage. I gasp in delight. How is this possible? I look closer, and see that it is a person on all fours, walking on very tall stilts, his head topped by the neck of his giraffe counterpart.
A cheetah enters next. Its front legs move marionette-style, powered by its human counterpart. Its legs are connected to the man’s, so when he moves, the cheetah moves.
Antelope, zebras, elephants, and a rhinoceros skip and pad onto the stage. Zazu, the king’s feathered advisor from the movie, flies high above, his silk-thin wings reminding me of fire as he darts about.
Then, the crowning moment. Mufasa, his face gazing over his subjects, while his human counterpart steps up to the rotating stairwell, watches as a female Rafiki holds his son in the air. All the ‘animals’ go crazy; the crowd cheers long after this first scene to the touring Broadway production of ‘The Lion King’ ends.
The rest of the play is just as riveting, but no other scene affected me so greatly. It was a beautiful, mystical combination of fabric, solids, gears and wheels. At one point, my gaze wanders to the credits page of the Playbill; Mask and Puppet Design by Julie Taymor and Michael Curry.
Thank you, Julie Taymor and Michael Curry, for showing me what it is really like to dream.
