Looking for TLKoB midis

[Sharifu]

Oh yeah Tim I was going to mention to you yesterday that I knew that another Lea member was going to see TLKoB in Portland too... I remember Bahati making a post about it a long time ago somewhere in this topic. Guess I forgot. XD

[Bahati]

I finally saw TLKoB for the first time last night in Portland. The phrases "simply unbelievable," "utterly breathtaking," and "the best thing I've ever seen" don't even come close to capturing just how amazing it was.

Finding a parking spot went pretty smoothly. There's a parking garage diagonally across the intersection that lies between the garage and Keller Auditorium. Made the short walk to the Auditorium, had my ticket scanned, and stepped through the doors into a sea of humanity.

I practically swam my way through the crowd up to one of the more prominent merchandise counters at which I purchased one of the black $25 generic TLKoB shirts, a $30 Portland-specific shirt, the Original Broadway Cast Recording CD for (I think) $20 and a full-color program for $10. I also have the standard program and super-cool bag everything came in.

The doors to the main room opened at about 7 PM (showtime was 7:30) and everyone started trickling in. I was seated in Row X in the left-ish part of Orchestra A. My angle of sight to the stage could have been better, but the distance was good enough to discern actors' facial expressions.

The show kicked off at about 7:35 PM. Needless to say, the applause after "Circle of Life" was absolutely deafening, and every single scene that followed left me gaping.

The intermission was one of the most excruciating 15-minute waits I can remember. While many patrons went for refreshments and such, I stood off to the side of my aisle, drinking my water and quietly absorbing everything I'd seen thus far. After a while, the seats began filling once more, and shortly after that a number of actors in vibrantly-colored clothing exploded into "One By One."

Much like everything before the intermission, the second part of the show was beyond words. I wish I could describe it with more detail, but only first-hand experience can possibly do it justice.

Everyone in the audience simultaneously rose into a standing ovation seconds after the final pound of the drums at the end of "King of Pride Rock." My hands were glowing red from clapping by the time I made my way to the exit and out into the cool night air.

I've already gone and duplicated my TLKoB CD so that I always have a copy in my car to listen to. The songs have so much more significance when you have memories to attach them to.

I'm dying to find an opportunity to see TLKoB somewhere again. It's not the kind of show that can be seen just once.

[Fear The Paw]

I know how ya fell I have only seen it once at that was in may but it was a breath taking experience, and someting I will never forget. And the merchandise is cool as well. I really do need to see it again.

This time I will get isle seats so I can spank the small elephant hehe

[Lion_King_300]

Hey that's so awesome that you enjoyed it Bahati. I know about that bad angle, I sat just about symmetrically across from you on the other side (row Y section E) but those seats were pretty good for your first time seeing it.

I too remember the first time seeing circle of life... man that applause at the end and the whole scene itself just makes you tingle! And the Mufasa Ghost scene too sends shivers down your spine, it's just so surreal.

Well I do have tickets for the Tuesday, October 18th show. They are EXTREMELY good seats, ORCH D (right-center) row L, only 12 rows back, and they're only a couple away from the aisle so the animals will walk right past you during Circle of Life (and also cub Simba when he leaves the Pride lands)

I was planning to re-sell them, but since you are dying to see it again I thought I'd offer to you first. If you agree I'd go down and meet you in Portland and we'd see TLKOB together, and I'd be thrilled to meet another Lea member and see the show.

They're currently for sale at Stubhub, so if you are interested and are absolutely sure you can go PM me ASAP and I'll take the tickets down from Stubhub and keep them for us.

The ticket will be $80, and I hope you can make it, it will be a fantastic experience to see TLKOB from that close! (to put it in perspective you'll be exactly twice as close to the stage as you were before (X is 24 rows back, L is 12 rows!)

Let me know soon Bahati! Take care.

[Sharifu]

Wow! I hope Bahati can go with ya LK300. That would be awesome!

And yes, I miss TLKoB too... I've been seeing commercials for TLKoB since tickets are on sale to the public now in San Jose. And my dad saw a commercial and said, "That looks real? being all sarcastic. XD I said to him, ?It?s not suppose to look ?real.? Ugh, he doesn?t understand. >_<

[Lion_King_300]

Yeah... that stinks your father is being so sarcastic about it... it's all about the duality of the human and animal seen simultaneously. If it looked too real or too human it just wouldn't work but Julie Taymor found just the right balance as we all know.

I don't think I'm going to go down to Portland again to see it by myself though so unless Bahati goes I'm going to sell the tickets (I don't mind either way, not to put pressure on him) I just can't get anyone interested in going that is willing to take a day off work and pay $80 and drive 350 miles to see it... I just can't convince anyone and everyone that I thought would be interested has seen it already.

[Lion_King_300]

Hey everyone, I found something really cool today that I didn't even know existed - Oprah Winfrey went to visit Julie Taymor at her Manhattan apartment in 2001 and did a series of interviews with her and they're all up to listen to on her website, here's the link:

Julie Taymor Interviews

She doesn't go into too much detail about the actual show, but more of her own personal perspective on the experiences of directing and her sincerity in giving the audience something that deeply moved them.

It's really a great set of interviews, and there's also some pics from when the Chicago cast of TLKOB did the Circle of Life scene live on stage during her show in 2001 (I didn't realize that happened either) no video of that unfortunately.

Enjoy!

[Lion_King_300]

Here's the other link to the gallery I mentioned:
http://www.oprah.com/tows/pastshows/...20030717.jhtml

Be sure to check out the video trailer too!

[Simbaspirit]

HI!! is anyone going to see TLKoB in Spokane???? i live in vancouver, so in 2 days i will drive 14+ hours, but o well

I am so exited!!!

also, my lifelong dream is to be adult Nala, so if it evr comes true i will meniton Lea!!!

sorry, wishfull thinking....

[Lion_King_300]

I thought about it, but I decided not to go to Spokane (Although I probably live closer to Spokane than any other Lea member)

I decided to go to Portland Oregon instead which was about an hour closer to see TLKOB, and I actually ended up going twice. I'd like to see it in Spokane, but I really don't want to drive over the cascade mountains in the wintertime with the snow and stuff, that scares me.

I hope you have a great time Simbaspirit, I know I was really really excited for MONTHS before I first saw TLKOB in Seattle. Are your parents going to drive you the whole way to see the show with you??? That's a incredibly long trip, I wish I had parents that would do that! You're quite lucky!

Oh yes, and if you hang around after the show and stand by the actor's exit door (around the side of the theatre) you can get autographs with the cast and possibly meet the actress playing Adult Nala! You should try and do this, it'd be quite a thrill but you have to wait a while sometimes for them to change out of their costumes and makeup.

[Sharifu]

Really Tim?! Have you done that before? I would love to meet some of the actors of the show...

[Bahati]

As of a purchase about ten minutes ago, I'm headed to TLKoB in Spokane on November 20th for the 1 PM afternoon show. It'll take a beastly 12-hour roundtrip drive to get there and back, but the location of my seat justifies such a toll.

Orchestra level, row N, seat 37; fantastically dead-center.

[Sharifu]

Wow! Great job getting those seats, Bahati. Are you going by yourself though? Or is someone going with you on that long car trip?

[Bahati]

Traveling solo. I may head up the day before the show so I'm not having to face everything in one go.

[Xinithian]

CHOW DOWN!!!

But seriously, He Lives In You is a great song.

[Sharifu]

Ohh... Well that's great you get to see it again so soon.

Well here are the seats I'm going to see the show next, on February 24, 2006, in San Jose, California. Orchestra row 2, seats 25, 27, 29, and 31. Here's where my seats are on the seating chart:



And here's the view from our seats:





The best seats I will see the show in yet! Seeing it this time in San Jose, will be my fourth time seeing the show! And I'll be seeing it with Lea members Muruwa, Vidan and Lion_King_300! Woot!

And hopefully I'll see it in London next summer. It would be neat to see the show with a different cast. (All the times I've seen the show so far, and also including this next time in San Jose, is the same cast)

[Akiko]

I got 'ta see it a couple years ago when it came to chicago, I took a trip with my mother to it. It was just amazing, the performances were gorgeous as were the costumes. Out seats were sorta' off to the side, so it was hard to see certain things at times, however we had some of the props flying right around us from where we sat. I just loved shadowlands, and I still to this day say that that song would've fit into the animated movie and added a lot more character development, story drama and development than the morning report. I'd love to see it again someday, money is usually an issue though. Amazing performance. :fini:

[Sharifu]

Oh yeah thanks for the link to that Oprah Winfrey and Julie Taymor interviews Tim, it was really interesting!

Simbaspirit, you should of seen TLKoB while it was in Portland Oregon! That's a lot closer to you! Ah well... At least you'll still get to see it soon.

[Lion_King_300]

Originally posted by Sharifu
Really Tim?! Have you done that before? I would love to meet some of the actors of the show...

Hmm, that sounds like something we could try in San Jose! I know everyone else would probably be okay with it too, we should try and do that.

I've done it with with other shows, but not TLKOB for some reason, I think everyone in my party wanted to leave but I remember a couple of times I left the theatre late after browsing in the gift shops and there was a small group of people hanging around the actor's entrance door on the side waiting fo the cast to come out... it was like 40 degrees outside though they must have been desperate for some autographs!

You just have to be patient, eventually they'll come out the door. And most theatre reps can tell you about how long it takes for the actors to change and leave and also where the door is if you can't find it, virtually every theatre has one. Like any actor or celebrity it's part of their job to be receptive to their fans so they should oblige if you ask them for an autograph or picture.

Oh and the very first time I went to the theatre to *try* and see TLKOB (I tried to get tickets but they sold out before I got to the window) I was walking back to my car and passed by the Actor's door and surprisingly it was open, so I looked inside and there was Larry Yando (probably the best overall actor in the show IMO, he's the guy being constantly interviewed in the TLKOB videos) in FULL costume as Scar, mask and everything standing only 4 feet away from me, smoking a cigarette in one hand and talking on his cell phone in the other hand, and he was surrounded by a couple of people, one was a makeup artist and the other was a bodyguard I think.

It was so funny, I wanted to say something to him but I think he or the guard would have gotten pissed off, but seeing Scar up close was worth going to the theatre that day even though we didn't get tickets!

[Sharifu]

Wow that's so cool!

I would love to do that. I think we can.

Originally posted by Lion_King_300
Like any actor or celebrity it's part of their job to be receptive to their fans so they should oblige if you ask them for an autograph or picture.

Would they have pictures? I mean I think it would cooler for the actor to sign a picture, then a regular piece of paper. I doubt they have a picture though, right?

Originally posted by Lion_King_300
It was so funny, I wanted to say something to him but I think he or the guard would have gotten pissed off, but seeing Scar up close was worth going to the theatre that day even though we didn't get tickets!

What did you want to say to him?