playbill vip

It has been such a pleasure directing Drama Club for the second year! Tle Lion King JR. has turned out to be a great musical for us to do. Last year, we did Willy Wonka Kids, which is a half-hour version of Willy Wonka. This year, we chose to go with a Broadway Junior musical because the plot normally makes more sense, and there is more music. The hard part this year is that we couldn't find a sponsor until April. in April, we only had rehearsal once per week, meaning we had 4 rehearsals in April. Once we got in to May, we started adding extra rehearsals. So we only had 2 months to put this show together! Behind the scenes, our tech crew has been workikg really hard, preparing the set and costumes. The hardest part of The Lion King by far though, is that with most musicals, the characters are humans, or human-like creatures. In The Lion King, we see all different types of animals. Our cast had to learn to move like the actual animals they were portraying, and our crew put in a lot of work designing makeup and costumes to look like the animal, but also creating what Julie Taymor, who directed and designed the costumes for the broadway production of The Lion King, calls a "Double-Event." She's referring to being able to see the actor and the character they're portraying simultaneously. I took a lot of inspiration from Julie Taymor when designing The Lion King JR. I hope you enjoy Ann Arbor Open Drama Club's The Lion King JR!

- Tate Zeleznik (Director)

These Programs Made Possible By:

Tom Larson

Suzanna Neal

Robert Parker

Josie Parker

All Cast Members and their parents have given consent for images of them to be posted on social media, so please feel free to share your favorite moments from the show! (No videos longer than 2 minutes at the request of Disney)