The Lion King

Eager anticipation rose Wednesday night as I slipped into my new navy blue lace dress. My thoughts fluttered to all of the amazing things that I was going to experience in the night ahead of me. I walked out of the locker room, the smell of sweat was gone as well as the mud on my neck from practice, and as I walked to my car I saw all of the band/choir kids anticipating the same thing I was, The Lion King. After dumping my back pack and gym bag in my car I headed back into the school to congregate with the rest of the students. I found John amidst the mass of people. As he smiled at me, I gave him a disgusted frown. "John, puh-lease let me fix your tie. It's driving me crazy." I handed him my glorified fanny pack, my phone, and my keys that were occupying my hands, and quickly pulled on his tie. I fixed it, and then stepped back to admire my work. "Excellent job with matching your shirt and tie, my friend, I am quite impressed." "You know, Stazia, I am perfectly capable of matching my clothes without your approval." A angered frown made it's way across my face, "That's what they all say." Soon after, all 100ish of us were shuffled onto three different buses, and we left, Omaha bound! On the bus ride, Ally and I were jamming out to a ton of songs. Everything from "You Don't Know You're Beautiful" by One Direction to "Smile" by Uncle Kracker, throw in a little Fun and you have a pretty awesome bus ride. As we pulled up to the Orphium Theater, the noise level rose about 50 notches. Everyone was so excited. Ms. Poe had been raving about this show since September.

We waited in the Lobby for a while, and then were finally instructed to find our seats. There were a little over 100 of us, so it took forever for everyone to find their correct seats, and almost everyone was throwing fits about who they wanted to sit by. It was a mess. Some people really need to grow up. When the show started, all of the drama seemed to subside. I was crying within the first 5 minutes. It was so amazing. The voices. The costumes. The instruments. The set. It was all spectacular. I was in shock. My absolute most favorite part was the song "He Lives in You" when the face of the lion slowly showed up in the back behind the black curtain. It was so awesome. Plus, grown-up Symba's voice was flat out yummy. I was crying as we were walking out of the Theater and I just couldn't calm myself down.

My happy sobs quickly turned into fear when I saw some of the shady characters on the streets of Omaha. It was around 10:30 pm. We had to walk a couple of blocks, and then wait on a corner for about 15 minutes for our buses. I was scared. There were creepy people everywhere, and I was freezing cold. I swear the chilly breeze was blowing right through my dress. I tried sleeping on the bus, but every time I was about to drift to sleep the bus would hit a bump and my head would bang against the window, so I gave up. We pulled into the parking lot around 11:35. I was so tired. I thought about having my parents come get me because I didn't think I was going to be able to drive all the way home without falling asleep. I arrived at home at a little before midnight, thanks to an entertaining conversation that kept me awake the last 10 minutes of my drive. I think my family kind of forgot about me becuase the spotlights had been shut off, so I had to walk through the yard in the dark, and all of the doors were locked. I stood there beating on the door until Rudy finally heard me. I could have gotten the spare key out of the Machine Shed, but I was worried that I would roll my ankle by making the muddy trek across the yard.

Needless to say, when I finally got to bed, it was around 1:00. It was completely worth it. Everything. The Lion King was amazing. I want to go again. Ms. Poe said that she might take us to Wicked when it comes next year. I really hope she stays true to that statement!