I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am for these students to get to share this production of The Lion King with you. When I started looking for this year's show last spring, my search was short and sweet. In January of 2015, rights became available for the junior version of Disney's The Lion King. Like many of you, I have loved this story since the movie was first released in 1994. In fact, The Lion King is the highest grossing hand drawn animated feature of all time. In 1997, The Lion King musical premiered on Broadway and was the first musical to gross over 1 billion dollars. I first saw the stage production in 2003 and was blown away by the visual spectacle, the new music that was written and the emotion that was felt.
One of the songs written for the musical, "He Lives in You," was one that amazed me in many ways. The staging was something that can only be done on a professional stage and the song was beautiful, but it was the words that struck me most. It is hard not to see the connection in the relationship that Rafiki sees between Simba and his (deceased) father and the relationship that we have with our Heavenly Father.
Rafiki sings these words:
He lives in you; He lives in me.
He watches over everything we see.
Into the water; into the truth.
In your reflection, He lives in you.
I think of the times that we discuss with our children and students how they should try to reflect God in their words and their actions. When my kids have worries, I tell them to give them to God because He is always with them. In Galatians 2:20 it states, "My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by entrusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."
It is my sincere prayer that as you experience The Lion King with us, your hearts are opened to some of the deeper meanings that can be drawn from the relationships between the characters, the beauty of the music and the meaning in the words. I pray that as God fills the space that we sit in, he also fills you with the reminder that He lives in you.
Humbled to be called to serve here,
Stacy Ross
Director
