What a way to spend a birthday. I mentioned yesterday how my uncle might not be able to use his front row tickets to the Lion King playing at the Fox. Well, the reason for that was because my uncle's father-in-law's daughter had a heart attack. She was only 46 and had no history of heart disease or the other risk factors. I came back to the lab after doing some running around for Luigi and had an odd message waiting for me...the woman had died, and my uncle was definitely not going to be able to use the tickets as they were heading down to be with the father-in-law's family. Now, it may sound callous, but I didn't know this person even though I've probably spent at least a few Christmases with her...Alas. My sincere sympathy and thanks that you died. Agh. Sounds horrible...but once I sat in the darkened theater waiting for the really cool opening curtain to go up, I had to thank God. Remember how I'd said just once I'd like to be able to go up to the front without having to fight for it? Well, here it was. We were front row slightly left of center, on the aisle...we literally got brushed by some elephants and wildebeest, and some bird puppets (I want one of those)...we were close enough to see the makeup and all the fine details. Wow. The opening Circle of Life sequence made me tear up. Seriously. What's funny is the Lion King cartoon was the only movie I ever cried at (when Mufasa died...:sad: ) and now the musical. It was just so magical and harmonious and they were right there. The songs were very well sung, and I loved the puppets. There was shadow play like traditional chinese theater shows, which delighted my mother (my dad elected not to try to go, as we only had two tickets and he would have had to sit in the way back for half the show). The puppets were amazing. Instead of covering up the actors' faces, they were headpieces or part of a costume so you could still see the expressions.

All the emotions of the movie were there, with that added kick that live shows get. I liked the new songs on the whole. The scenery was spare but gave the impression of the lush jungle with just a few well-placed props. Gorgeous lighting and special effects. A simulated drought,

(and now we pause for a random question. If drought sounds like 'drout,' why doesn't draught sound like 'draut?' Or trough 'trou?' That bothers me because I remember reading 'draught' when I was little and thinking of drought and going, oh yeah, I know how to say this. Now back to your regularly scheduled gushing post.)

There's much more where this came from...and birthday gifties!