To most people, these words are nothing more than gibberish, but a select few will recognize them as the opening lines to “The Circle of Life” in “The Lion King.” As Rafiki comes on stage and sings this opening line, and the sun rises, chills ran up and down my spine. And it was just one of many moments in the popular musical which gave me chills during a recent performance at the Capitol Theater in Salt Lake City.?One of the aspects of the show that I really loved was the use of puppetry. “The Lion King” — which runs through Sept. 26 — is a very human show, despite being told through the medium of an African lion pride, so the people were always a very visible part of the show; their human emotions were able to shine through. There was even one moment where Mufasa removed his mask completely and set it aside for one of the more touching sections of the play, when he and Simba discuss death and what comes after this life in the song “They Live in You.” This questioning is something we can all relate to; most children will, at some point, ask their parents what happens after death. Because this is so familiar, the two lions become very personally related to the audience, which makes the next scene all the more heart-wrenching.?In “The Stampede” scene, Mufasa dies and Simba is run out of the Pridelands. While this scene was one of the saddest and most touching scenes in the show, it also contained one of my least favorite bits. When the stampede comes down into the canyon, Simba does some running in place. I’m sorry, but running in place never looks like actually running. Even on stage, I won’t mistake the two. I was distracted from what was going on by the fact that Simba wasn’t moving. Fortunately, his fake running lasted only a short while, and I was able to get right back into the play with mourning Mufasa’s death.?However, needless to say, this show — based on the Disney animated film of the same name — is not all about doom, gloom and touching moments; there are a lot of funny parts in it too. Zazu the hornbill provides much comic relief, especially through his interaction with his puppeteer. There are moments when they argue and fight that, again, remind the audience about the humanity of the show, while making them burst out laughing.?Timon and Pumbaa were another great source of comic relief. While the obvious flatulence jokes were great for the little kids, and adults too (just as many were laughing), the pair also had some moments of more mature humor. Not dirty humor, but things that the little kids weren’t laughing at.?I also must take a second to comment on the brilliance of the costuming/puppetry of Timon and Pumbaa. Timon had a very obvious puppeteer behind him and attached to him, but I found that I was never really watching the puppeteer, just the puppet, which is weird because it is hard to ignore the guy in the green suit attached to the meerkat, but that is the way it worked. Pumbaa, also, had a great puppeteer who was adept at maneuvering his great warthog puppet around. There was never a moment of running into each other or an accidental hitting of puppets, at least not that I observed. It was amazing to see how much control all of the puppeteers exercised over their puppets, all while making it look smooth and natural, and not drawing attention to themselves.?For anyone who is thinking, “I saw the movie, I don’t need to see the play,” I highly encourage you to reconsider, if only to see the beauty of the puppets. There are so many new songs and new layers of the show that aren’t played out in the movie that are shown on stage and they add so much more to “The Lion King.” For example, ever wondered why Nala had to leave the Pridelands? That’s explained in the stage production.?There is something for everyone to find in this play, from little boys shouting, “Hey! I know them!” when Timon and Pumbaa come out, to the grandparents who brought the boys to the show.?

Dan Reed is a recent graduate of Davis High School where he was an editor of the school’s yearbook. Contact him at joker_gremlin@hotmail.com.