No Strings Attached

Posted By Kathleen David on August 23, 2009

This weekend we had one last family vacation in the city together. It kind of fell together rather quickly on Friday. Caroline and I saw The Lion King on Friday while Peter and Ariel saw Hair. Then on Saturday we all saw the Little Mermaid which is closing at the end of the month. Caroline and I talked about the shows and here is her review of the two shows she saw this weekend with some commentary from me.

The Lion King

I loved the elephants coming down from the back and the Mama Elephant had a baby elephant attached to her tail. The cheetah was good when Mufasa was around but she tried to eat a giraffe later when Scar was king. Rafiki was being a silly monkey and she made me laugh.

I liked the kids playing the cubs of Simba and Nala. They sang and danced at the same time. My favorite song was “I just can’t wait to be King” because it was silly and Zazu was really funny.

The stampede was scary. I thought Simba was going to be stomped on but his daddy rescued him. Then his daddy fell because of Scar but Scar told Simba it was his fault so Simba ran away. That made me sad and it made my Simba and Nala sad too (She had two stuffed lions cubs she had gotten at Disneyworld the year she met all the princesses and princes)

Simba was all alone and he was sad and I was sad but Timon and Pumba found Simba and they sang a silly song and Simba grew up into a Lion. Then they stopped the play and we waited for a long time in line to go to the bathroom.

Caroline Simba and Nala at intermission at the Lion King

Scar became king and everything went wrong on the Pride lands. I though the Hyenas were funny and scary at the same time. One had this funny long tongue and he kept falling down a lot (That would be Ed the hyena) One scooted on his butt a lot because he had worms ( I have no idea how she remember that detail out of all the things that the hyenas said) The lions were sad. Nala ran away and found Simba by trying to eat Pumba.

Rafiki came and kept hitting Simba on the head so he would talk to his father. ( I think that the reveal of Mufasa in the sky is one of the most beautiful puppet images I have ever seen.) I liked that Simba went back to the Pride lands and his friends came along to help him. Scar was scary but Simba won and made Scar tell the truth. Then the Hyenas had a few words for Scar and he was gone from the pride lands with the hyenas.

I clapped a lot and cheered for the actors. I met Scar as a human afterwards. He wasn’t scary at all but really funny.
I am glad I saw the Lion King because it was fun and had animals in it.

The Little Mermaid

It was great. I wasn’t scared of Ursula this time (the first time she saw it, when Ursula came on she dove under the seats and wouldn’t come out until she was gone) Ariel was so pretty and she combs her hair with a fork. Isn’t that silly?

The mermaids were very beautiful and they were graceful. They glided around the stage and did pretty dancing and singing. King Triton was mad because Ariel didn’t remember she had to sing.

Ariel had some strange friends including a loud seagull called Scuttle. He was very silly and his friends were very silly too. They did a funny song that made me laugh.

Ursula made me laugh with her silly song about good times. She was scary but funny too. The eels made me laugh.

Ariel helped Eric to the beach and her daddy got even angrier with her because she didn’t listen to him. He took away all her stuff which wasn’t very nice. Ariel ran away from home which is NOT a good thing to do.

The eels found her and took her to see Ursula who was her aunt. I watched Ariel get legs and it was scary. She lost her voice!

Then the play stopped and we went to the bathroom. This time we got through much faster (Ah the advantages of an aisle seat rather than sitting in the middle so we could make it to the rest room very fast) We sat down and watched the rest of the play.

I loved watching Eric and Ariel dance. They were silly but good dancers too. Mommy explained to me why the prince was sad that he had to marry by sunset (I have to admit, this was a hard part of explain in 10 words or less to her but I think she understood.) Ariel and Eric were in a row boat and Sebastian sang them a song and they would have kissed but the eels shocked the boat and they fell apart.

Then there was the singing contest and Ariel danced rather than sang. Then Ursula came in and took Ariel away from Eric. Ariel’s daddy tried to rescue her but Ariel rescued him from his sister. That was scary to watch but Ariel won and married Eric and they lived happily ever after.

I got to meet the Little Mermaid afterwards and I got her autograph. So did big sister on her bear.

Three Ariels and a Caroline at The Little Mermaid on Broadway

I had a lot of fun in the city and I loved both shows but I like Lion King a little but better.
I am grateful that Caroline had such a magical weekend in NYC

Category: Art, Caroline, Life, Puppets
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