Hey my Lovelies,

Last week Friday I had the amazing opportunity to see The Lion King at the Lyceum Theatre. I’ve been to see it once before when I was really young and for the life of me I cannot remember a thing from it, but after seeing it this time around I certainly can’t forget the experience!

 

“Hakuna Matata – It means no worries”

Prior to this theatre trip I was having a pretty rough week and honestly didn’t think I would even manage to make it out on the 7th. All of my chronic illnesses decided to tag team and gang up on me and I was 95% ready to throw my white flag up and surrender to the pain.

If you follow me on twitter, you may have seen that I had an unfortunate accident. Just the day before, I had slipped at home and fell right down onto my back aggravating the chronic pain that was already there aggravating me, basically just a whole lot of pain and aggravation, HA!

During the morning of the 7th, I actually woke up crying and my anxiety didn’t want to shift.

Some of the symptoms and things I was experiencing:

• Chronic headache
• Nausea
• Excruciating CRPS pain – burning, stabbing, shooting pains all over my body
• Fibromyalgia acting up
• Extreme fatigue, heavy eyelids
• IBS/IBD cramps
• Tight chest – anxiety; different from my asthma symptoms

I also started new medication for my IBD last week which I was scared it would give me side effects whilst out and about!

However, I recalled one of the greatest hit songs of all time, ‘Hakuna Matata’, reciting the lyrics;

Hakuna Matata!
What a wonderful phrase
Hakuna Matata!
Ain’t no passing craze

It means no worries
For the rest of your days
It’s our problem-free philosophy
Hakuna Matata!

…And there we have it, that’s how I motivated myself to push through the pain and seize the day!

I’ve missed a lot of outings and planned trips especially in these last two years, which I can actually deal with, but I figured The Lion King was something I probably couldn’t fathom missing. So I put on my positivity pants and smiled through the pain for the evening.

Before entering the Theatre I made sure to stop at a Starbucks which was two minuets away, so I could take all of my medication. I had taken a painkiller for my headache two hours before so I planned to take another around 7:15 before the show started at 7:30.

 

The Show

The Lion King is an American animation that was released in theaters on June 15, 1994 by Walt Disney Pictures. After the movies release in 1994, five years later in 1999 Disney’s The Lion King began playing at the Lyceum Theatre where it still remains a hit show in London today.

The West End show began with the hit classic – Circle of Life. I mean, if it didn’t start with that song it technically wouldn’t be accurate at all since that’s the song that the Disney movie begins with (Lol FAN here).

I have noise sensitivity and find being in public or at theaters etc. a little excruciating, so I had ordered a pair of ear plugs beforehand to help me get through the experience. The ear plugs I ordered didn’t come on time so I improvised and used my earphones to drown out some of the noise throughout the evening.

The performances were a mixture of live and playbacks (pre-recordings), which I can deal with and appreciate as they had a live orchestra playing throughout the night. The Lion King is a massive production, a lot of craft and talent is organised and joined together to pull off the show.

My first loves have always been art and music, so this production was a treat for my eyes and ears to receive. Everything from wardrobe, to the set production and the live orchestra, it was all on point. I have to say even the grass looked good, that’s how much thought they put into this show.

During the night 6 different African languages were intertwined and spoken; Swahili, Zulu, Xhosa, Sotho, Tswana, Congolese. Not to worry though, as English is still the main language used to communicate and tell the story through the classic songs from The Lion King that most people remember and can sing along to, regardless of age.

Throughout the night I found myself tapping away with my hands and feet, which was actually a good distraction to the chronic pain and other symptoms I was experiencing. I tell ya, the power of music is real and there’s definitely nothing like hearing a live band. Whilst tapping away I felt as if I was playing the African drums and other instruments again from my school days, in fact I started to miss being in and around that setting. It was quite hard not to tap and sing a long throughout the night to all the classics as they’re all so very timeless and catchy.

I just have to say without giving anything away, Pumbaa and Timon were probably my favorites throughout the night, if you’ve ever seen the movie then you can probably figure out why, haha

Seating

Thankfully I had the seat right at the end of row M, which meant I didn’t have to shuffle and manoeuvre past people whilst using my cane for the night. I was also sitting next to someone i’m familiar with so I felt comfortable.

Tickets can be as high as £100 + to see the Lion King depending on seating, time of year and other factors. However, groups of 25 or more can get a discount and end up paying between £35 and £45 from Grand Circle seating to Royal Circle seating. The person who organised and booked the tickets for The Lion King had around 30+ interested people so therefore we each got in for £45, which is quite a good save.

The Lion King was two hours and thirty minutes, including one intermission that lasted about 15 minutes. Literally as soon as the show cut for intermission I went straight to the women’s lavatory, no waiting around just up and gone. Guarantee if I didn’t get up as soon as intermission started then I would’ve missed when the show started again, because you know how the lines for the women’s toilet gets… yeah ridiculous!

There was air conditioning in the theatre but not ridiculously high so that you’d catch a chill. I took my jacket off and didn’t feel cold.

Location & Travel

The day before I had checked the running time of the show and booked an Uber to pick me up from the theatre between 22:45 – 23:00. I had seen the journey needed to take to get to the theatre via public transport and realised how straight forward it is, what I was most anxious about was being too tired and weak to make the journey.

During the interval of the show I decided to cancel my Uber and go ahead and take public transport back home, big mistake. Although I saved £13-£17 by not travelling back home via Uber, the journey back home wasn’t as smooth as the journey to the theatre and was a little exhausting but at least I now know if I take public transport somewhere I should take a taxi back home to lessen the hassle on my body.

Hair & Outfit

I was already out of my comfort zone and not feeling well, which meant that I had to make sure whatever I chose to be my outfit for the evening was; 1) comfortable and 2) I liked it.

There is no dress code at the theatre, the website just states that attire should be “comfortable and appropriate for the occasion”.

If you didn’t know by now, I’m a Sunflower Geek! 🌻🌻🌻

I made sure to order a top in time for this outing so I wouldn’t be panicking about what to wear at the last minute…I’ve been there plenty of times with the outfit anxiety, especially as I’ve lost quite a bit of weight and hardly anything fits or can be worn out.

My hair is naturally curly, so I washed it before I started to get ready and then diffused it so it could dry in it’s natural state.

I also wore my giraffe stud earrings which I’ve actually had since school days. Just in case they needed an extra to fill in on stage at some point, haha.

I’ve officially named my cane, ‘Nala’ after the character in the Lion King – because it keeps me grounded. If you’ve seen the Lion King, then you might remember that Nala always manages to pin Simba down, anyways I won’t say more just in case you’ve never watched the movie, but if you haven’t what are you waiting for?

I’m glad I decided to be BRAVE, push through the pain and get out of the house to see The Lion King – at the Lyceum Theatre. Loved it & proudly suffering the consequences.

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I would definitely put The Lion King in my Top 5 Theatre productions list.

Have you been to see this epic production? or planning?

Interested in seeing the Lion King or want to inquire – Visit their official website

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Thanks for stopping by.

Laura,

XOXO