(In case you didn’t know, my entry title is a rendition of a joke I heard on “The Office.”)

Anyway, The Lion King opened at L.A.’s Pantages Theater last night and I was there! I received a notice back in May for the “secret pre-pre sale” and scored great stage-friendly tickets (meaning I was close enough to see the actors sweating.) And let me tell you: the show is fantastic. It is beautiful and amazing and innovative–if you ever find yourself in a city where The Lion King is showing, you must go–even if the only seats available are the nosebleed seats. From start to finish, it is worth every penny.

My favorite scene, and probably the scene it is most famous for, is the “Circle of Life” opening. It starts abruptly: once the theater lights go out, Rafiki starts singing the haunting first verse: Nan Ts’ngonya Ma Bakithi Baba! Everyone will go nuts. And then…THEN…the animals come out: the giraffes, the birds, the antelope, the cheetah, the elephant. And they don’t just enter the stage from the left and right sides; there were animals coming from the lobby of the theater and walking down the aisles. It was just amazing. I felt like peeing in my seat and weeping at the same time.

It was so good…there aren’t any words in the English language that can describe how great the show was. Just go see it while you still can…it is going to be here in L.A. for only 8 weeks, with the last showing being January 7, 2007.