A Roaring Night on Broadway: My Magical THE LION KING Adventure with Papa
By Mira Tiwari, Age 8.
We started the day with lunch at Carmine’s in Times Square. It was loud and happy and smelled like garlic and joy. The plates were so big they nearly slid off the table. We ordered spaghetti and meatballs, and Auntie Zo said her leftovers lasted three whole days. I believe her. Everything was too yummy. I kept eating even after I was full, because it felt like a party.
And the party wasn’t even the best part.
After lunch, my Auntie L treated us to a matinee of The Lion King on Broadway.
I was excited because I love watching people sing on stage. This was my third Broadway show (my favorite is still Hamilton, but this one is almost tied!), and I think it was the most magical one yet.
My papa, Rahul Tiwari, is an IT executive, but he’s also an actor—so he knows about lights and costumes and all the backstage stuff. But even he said he was amazed.
The moment we walked into the theater, I could feel something big was about to happen. The seats were full of people speaking all kinds of languages—just like me! (I speak English, German, and Hindi.) Then the lights dimmed, and the magic began.
A giant elephant—thirteen feet long, twelve feet high, and nine feet wide—marched down the aisle. Later, Papa told me it takes four actors to control it, and that it actually folds flat when it goes backstage! But at that moment, it didn’t feel like a puppet. It felt real.
Then came the giraffes, my favorite. They were twelve feet tall, with actors walking on long stilts that made them sway like they were really alive. I couldn’t believe how gracefully they moved. It was like they belonged in the wild, not on a stage in New York City.
There were animals everywhere—cheetahs, birds, antelope. The puppets moved with so much life. Later, Papa and I looked it up and found out there are more than 200 puppets in the show—rod puppets, shadow puppets, and full-sized ones—all brought to life by 49 hardworking artists.
The coolest part? They’re made from carbon fiber—that’s the same strong, super-light material they use in airplanes! That’s how the actors can move so quickly and smoothly, even while wearing masks or balancing huge animal shapes.
And those lion masks—wow. They looked like golden crowns. You could still see the actors' faces underneath, which made them feel half-lion, half-human, and somehow even more magical. Papa whispered, “Look at how they move—like real animals.” Usually, he notices acting tricks I miss, but this time, I think we were both just caught in it.
The music made my chest beat fast. I almost sang along to “Hakuna Matata,” but I didn’t want to miss anything. The drums, the colors, the costumes—it was brighter than Holi in India. Brighter than the cherry blossoms in Japan. Brighter than anything.
After the show, Papa asked me what I thought. I told him, “It was like a dream, but better, because I was awake.”
Now I want to build animal puppets. Or maybe be on stage with one. Maybe both.
If you’ve never seen The Lion King, you have to go. You'll feel like you're standing in the middle of the savanna, with elephants walking by and giraffes looking down at you. And just maybe, you’ll believe in magic, the way I did.
No comments:
Post a Comment