Lion King Jr.: Play Analysis

I saw two plays that I was interested in writing about, however, I realized that Lion King Jr. was the performance that piqued my interest the most. I attended the first showing on Thursday, March 2 after hearing about it from a family friend whose children were part of the cast. Courtyard Theatre Productions presented the play at the Church of Christ in Jenks, Oklahoma. Caroline Frame directed the Lion King Jr. with her assistant Libby Rose. The actors in the play were all children ranging from middle schoolers to early high schoolers; same with the tech and makeup crews. The main characters in the play were played by Cobin Stockstill as Mufasa; Emma Swank and Evi Rose as young and old Nala; Caleb Matlach as Scar; and Tanner Matlach and Jack Ransdell as young and old Simba. The Lion King is

Throughout the play, there were technical difficulties with the microphones and sound systems. The microphones continued to go in and out throughout the play and at times the sound system would not be loud enough for people to hear and went out completely during one of the songs. Also, some of the male cast were not the best of singers. I do believe that a lot of the problems could have just occurred during the first showing and not the rest of them, yet, even with the problems, I would recommend this play to people because I was very entertained and everything but the directing and costume making was done by children. All in all, I think the play was delightful. The costumes were great, especially for one person to make them. and the children did a fantastic job. I was really pleased with the choreography that Tanner Matlach, who played Simba, made all on his own. Though there were problems, I believe that if one is not completely judgmental, that for paying $5 it was a pretty good deal. The actors used emotion, hard work, and dedication to make their performance a good one, and I believe they did just