So it's been exactly 3 weeks since my week with the National Tour of "THE LION KING" ended in East Lansing so I figured it was time to update and fill everyone in on just how amazing it was!
So. . . I got to East Lansing on Tuesday. There was NOTHING there. College town where there was nothing around except a Target and plenty of restaurants. My point. . . it wasn't in the heart of any big city. Very rural. It was a 5 hour drive to get there. Oy! Anyone who knows me well knows that I despise road trips of any kind. Anything over 2 hours and I am DONEEE!!! However, since I knew I was about to have the best week of my life, it went fast thanks to the help of the "In The Height's" OBC cast album. Anyway, so I get to the hotel (the hotel the LION KING cast was staying at) to meet up with Michael (who is an Ensemble member in the show as well as the Understudy to Mufasa) and Ryan (who is one of the stage managers). I stayed with them! It was a blast. More to follow later on. For dinner, we went to this place called Old Chicago Pizza before heading to the theatre for the show. Tony was out of the show Tuesday and Wednesday to fly back to New York City to spend time with his family and celebrate his daughter's 10th birthday. One of the understudy Zazu's went on Tuesday night. He did a very good job! Thanks to Ryan, I got into the show for FREE that night and watched the show from the Orchestra. Tuesday night's show was a mess apparently to the cast because nearly every single Principal was OUT of the show. There were SOOO many understudies on that night. The show definitely felt different but, to the audience, it wasn't a mess at all. They loved it. Well, I did at least ;)
Wednesday consisted of me trying to get Michael to indulge in THE HILLS with me. . . . which, he didn't. Ughhhh. HAHAHA. Ryan was gone most of the day to rehearse a new 'Swing' that was going into the show. We all just sort of lounged around until dinner time and yet, another show!!! Wednesday night, I got in for FREE again and sat in the orchestra and saw the 2nd Zazu Understudy. He was great!!! Very solid performance! The show was VERY strong that night! Everyone was ON and you could just smell the 'fierceness' in the air!! ;)
Thursday was SUPER exciting because Tony was back from New York City and, on this day, I got to follow Ryan around backstage and watch the Matinee performance from the wings! It was sooooo cool to watch everyone come to work and get into their costumes and make- up and to see them warm up and prepare for a 2 show day. Broadway performers are just people like you and me. . . very hard for me to believe sometimes but it's true! The show was about ready to begin so all of the cast members who come down the aisles during 'The Circle of Life' at the top of the show were waiting in a conference room waiting for the 'ok' to proceed to their positions to start the parade down the aisles. It was SOOOO cool to see Tony all dressed up in costume UP CLOSE and see how he prepares for the show. . . which consisted of him chatting with another performer about Fantasy Football! HAHAHAHA. The show started and the parade of animals started down the aisles. It was soooo awesome to see how everything at the beginning works from a different perspective. I was RIGHT next to Tony before he ran down the aisle. It was so funny because literally right before he ran down the aisle we were just 'shootin the breeze' so to speak talking about anything and everything before he sprinted full speed down the aisle with the 'bird kite' for his entrance in "Circle of Life." I wet myself. ;) After that, I was handed over to Ryan, who I followed for the rest of the performance. It is IMPOSSIBLE for me to talk about every aspect of what goes on backstage. There's just too much and too much stuff I got to witness backstage. For me, the highlights were getting to watch Tony be himself backstage and then completely transform into Zazu before going on stage. Same with all of the actors. The performers were soooo 'on' when they get on stage and, the minute they get off stage, they become real people again and proceed to sit down and relax and guzzle water while breathing heavily. It's a veryyyyy exhausting show. Tony would come off stage and put his puppet down, lean up against a stool, fan himself and guzzle water before having to go back on stage. The show is CRAZYYYY technical and you have to be extremely careful where you are or you could get seriously hurt. TONS of stuff are flying in left and right. I also almost wet myself when Ryan told me that I was going to assist him in helping Young Nala up onto her Ostrich during "Just Can't Wait to be King." Basically what happens is. . . the colorful 'king' curtain comes down for about 20 seconds while Zazu (aka Tony) runs around screaming for Simba and Nala to come back. Well that's what the audience sees. What is going on behind the curtain is stage hands running around like chickens with their heads cut off helping the kids up onto the Ostriches so that, when the curtain opens, you see Simba and Nala up on the birds and they begin singing. It was the first time I got to walk on stage DURING a performance. Very surreal for me! So. . . skipping ahead, everything was amazing and I was pinching myself almost the entire time. I couldn't believe where I was. Seriously. The end of the show came about and I was able to walk right up to the edge of one of the onstage columns and watch the Finale of the show, which is a Reprise of 'The Circle of Life'. All the animals come back onstage and bow at one another. I was choked up because, as Tony was bowing at all the animals, he saw me in the wings and bowed to me. We had a moment! HAHAHAHA. Cheesy, I know! But amazing! I was literally on Cloud 9 after that experience and couldn't stop thinking about it all while I was at dinner with Michael and Ryan in between shows. I was soooo thankful to those guys! So thankful. They dropped me back off at the hotel so I could sleep (I was beat) and they went back to the theatre for the night show.
On Friday, I got up early and went to lunch with Tony at one of the local diners in the area. We got to sit down and chat for about an hour which was so much fun for me! I loooove that guy with all of my heart. He's been my mentor for 9 years and, if you knew him, you would know why I value our friendship so much! After that, I went to see 'Observe and Report' with Michael and Ryan. Horrible movie. They had gone to see 'Adventureland' while I was at lunch with Tony. Apparently, that was really good! Ok, great! Of course I go to the movie that BLOWSSS. HAHA. Johnny Rockets followed afterwards and then it was time to get ready for the Friday night show. I got to see the show AGAIN from the orchestra. This time seeing it with Tony back in the show from the audience! It was about time! A-M-A-Z-I-N-G show. Almost a full cast. . . . minus Simba (who had an understudy go on). It was flawless and, of course, I loved it!
Saturday morning, I got up and packed myself up to leave. It was SOOO hard to leave because I had grown quite accustomed to the lifestyle of the cast! I could TOTALLY get used to it and I did! It was hard saying goodbye to my friends in the show because who knows when I will get to see them again. The tour is not coming to anymore East Coast cities for quite some time. And by quite some time I mean a year and a half :( However, life must go on. It was a crazy week and easily one of the best weeks I have ever had in my life. . . . memories I will always treasure and keep close to me. Memories to last a lifetime. . . Yayyy!
"Lion King" total: 18 times! (and counting) ;)
Be well!
