The Lion King - Revisited

A couple of years ago we saw The Lion King in London for my 40th birthday.

 At that time it didn't look like the show would ever tour to our part of the world -

but then last February a run at The Palace Theatre was announced.

A phone consultation with Auntie Judy (also a huge Lion King fan) - and tickets were booked.

Twelve months later - and  it  was finally time to see this wonderful show again.

We got the train to Manchester

{need to get the use out of our family railcard}

We all had lunch at Pizza Hut -

then Al called in at the Camera Exchange whilst Megs got lost in the Arndale Centre
{don't ask}

We passed the exquisite new Raqib Shaw installation on the outside of the Art Gallery

on our way to the theatre.

There we met up with Auntie Judy and Uncle Peter and found our seats -

not hard as the were row AA - right at the front

{a price band down from the best stalls seats - those were just too much for six of us.}

I'd avoided seats further back - remembering the disappointment of poor sight lines under the circle, and missing Mary Poppins fly - but then I ended up worrying in case we were too close.

Well - all worrying was in vain - I loved the seats.

 Ben {on the aisle} was virtually trampled by the elephant in the opening scene -

 and he was certainly licked by a rampaging Hyena in "Be Prepared"

The intimacy was astounding -

and really gave a totally different experience to the last time we saw the show.

 I focused on faces and expressions and details of the puppets.

The dancing was so much more immediate  -

we could feel the floor bounce with the dancers movements -

and as for seeing the musical director grinning with delight as he sang along with

"One by one". Just unforgettable.