I just got back from an amazing evening in London. 2:45 hrs of pure entertainment, of the kind I have never experienced before. The musical The Lion King based on the movie with the same name. Just too too good!

The Lion King tells the story of Simba – the adventure of his battles, his friendships, his dreams, and his journey from wide-eyed cub to his destined role as King of the African Pridelands.

Amazing as it is, more so with great music by Elton John.

The use of theatrical effects far more imaginative than pyrotechnics (which incidently I witnessed recently in Zurich as part of national day celebration on Aug. 1!)

This show has been running since 1999 (March 21), filling the 2000+ capacity theatre every night since the first preview (and standing too, I saw this musical standing at the top of it all, not the best position, but the experience of it all makes even that the best position!!) Close to 2 million people have seen this production till date!!

This show is directed by Julie Taymor, who also is behind the costume, mask and puppet designs, my hats off to her!! Choreography is by Garth Fagan, scenic design: Richard Hudson; masks and puppet designs also by Michael Curry; sound: Tony Meola; and hair/makeup: Michael Ward.

Unfortunately I don’t have any information on today’s cast, but they were just splendid!

The program reminded me another great evening I had couple of weeks back. This time in Stuttgart, Germany. Where I had spend a weekend with Michael. There was this Summer festival going on, with food and cultural programs from a varitey of tropical countries, like Greece, Italy, Croatia, Turkey, India, and some african countries. With dance and music and so on. There was this woman from Senegal, who sang with an amazing voice, and had even got the crowd humming along. One of today’s singers reminded me of that, hence this note.