It took some time, but I finally got my husband to buy us tickets to see Disney's "Broadway" production of "Lion King". The 2018-2019 season is their 20th in Tokyo. Since my son has seen the original and remake of the movie, we thought it was a good choice.
We waited until Friday to tell our son. As soon as he heard where we were going, he was overjoyed. "How many sleeps until we go to see Lion Kings?" he asked over and over. (The plural is on purpose.)
By the time we got to the theater in Oimachi, he was practically jumping up and down. We collected a cushion for him to sit on and he settled in, ready for the show. I barely heard a peep from him the whole show. I looked at his face several times to see him wide mouthed, staring at the stage. During intermission he was abuzz with everything going on. We tried to tease him that the show was over, but he quickly retorted "It's not over yet!" He couldn't stop chatting about the costumes and the dance moves of the actors.
When the show was over, and we clapped through at least 10 curtain calls, our son breathlessly said "thank you daddy!" At dinner, we continued to discuss the show. My son was amazed to learn that many of the costumes were used with Japanese bunraku techniques. Bunraku is a traditional form of puppetry where 3 people manipulate the large puppet. Although I got called an old lady by multiple people for going when I lived in Osaka 17 years ago, I really enjoyed learning about the traditional theater, as well as it's connection to the modern theater, specifically Lion King. Learn more about it here: theworldofpuppetry.weebly.com
So our son has now seen his first "Broadway" show. And now he won't stop talking about both the show and getting fully registered for ballet lessons.
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