Colony Middle School and Finger Lake Elementary School Present: The Lion King JR

Showtimes: Friday, Oct. 28 at 7:30 p.m / Saturday, Oct. 29 at 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. / Friday, Nov. 4 at 7:00 p.m. / Saturday, Nov. 5 - 2 p.m. 7 p.m.

PALMER — Inside Colony Middle School, downstairs in the cafeteria, Tobias Lambert is talking to a large group of students. It is two days before the premiere night of Disney’s Lion King JR and Lambert, Colony Middle School’s music instructor and the director of the play is going over the show notes for this dress rehearsal. The students have dropped their costumes, their faces still covered in make-up. They sit, gathered around in fold-out chairs circled around the front of the stage which is the music room with the walls opened up to the cafeteria.

“Please make sure that you’re always projecting, as much as you can- all the time, every one of you, we need it,” Lambert says, projecting his voice loudly. “But it takes a lot of energy guys — and sometimes it isn’t there.”

He notes the improvements, such as the performances of Timon, one of the comic relief characters was “way better than before and the audience fed off that.”

He talks about the Hyena’s evoking the whole audience into laughter, “they were just having a blast.”

He also mentions that when they did a “chow down” scene, there wasn’t the same energy level and it needed work. The audience’s energy level and interaction appears to be a crucial factor in the success for this rendition of Lion King JR. Lambert mentions several times in his show notes and the following interview how important of a role the audience plays.

“We all want them to actually laugh and get engaged with what we’re doing,” Lambert says.

In closing, Lambert thanks them and tells the student to get plenty of rest. They disperse and the room stirs with chatter and laughter.

Lambert goes on to say, “it’s kind of a tradition for this department that every year, no matter what show we do, we always try to bring the audience up on stage as a part of the show.”

Grace Eldritch, a sophomore at Colony High School was asked by Lambert to choreograph the play, which combines students from both Colony Middle School and Finger Lake Elementary School.

“It’s been great. I have to drill a lot,” Eldritch said. “Especially since there is a lot of arm and leg movements. But they got it.”

The Lion King JR has been in the works for almost 2 years. A lot of time, effort, research, and collaboration has been put into this play, which has become a very personal endeavor for everyone involved. Some of the students even designed their own masks and costumes during several workshops in the past year.

Clair German and her mother Rebecca Jenson (from Sun Valley Sewing) started working on the designs for the costumes 18 months ago. They did a lot of research, studying African animals, African artwork, and the big, Broadway production’s design, “especially the female lionesses.”

The set design was built around the limited space. Some paintings of the Denali Mountain were borrowed from Colony High’s marching band and called Mount Kilimanjaro. A former Colony Middle art instructor painted several savanna landscapes, jungle scenes, and a cave with the help of students.

Samuel Fry plays Simba.

“I think it’s been a really good experience,” he said. “It’s really cool being in drama because you can do what to want to do.”

Charly Rentz plays Rafiki.

“The thing I like about playing Rafiki is that it is very individual and a different character,” he said. “So I kind of get to experiment around in the part. I do a lot of improv.”

Lena Edwards plays Nala and agrees with her fellow cast members, reiterating the amount of freedom and expression, “It’s pretty fun. You get to do a lot of things you usually can’t do in real life,” she said.

Jayla Williams who plays Pumba has fun making people laugh and enjoys having her own part (with Timon) in the play.

Jai'Elle Mosby plays Timon and has fun because her character reminds her of herself, “bossy.”

“He tells people what to do, what not to do. We practically raise Simba, so we’re pretty important.”

Tyler Belliston plays Zazuu, the bird. He says the wings are heavy but he can handle it.

“He’s winging it,” a cast member jokes.

They all laugh and talk about their work so far. Ian Romine plays Mufasa and claims that it’s been a learning experience because he didn’t know he could sing until this.

“He’s actually pretty good,” one of the cast members says and they all agree.

There are 55 total students working on this play, 5 of them as the crew, helping with lights, sound and so on. With cast members making their own masks, investing their own time and materials, it seems that this project sparked a passionate interest — making this play their own, important experience.

As opening night approaches, Lambert says that nerves are running high. Since this program has a curriculum mandated by Disney and MTI (Music Theatre International), there are certain confinements such as the music. The music is all instrumental CDs that students sing to.

“The problem with it is: we have to go with those tempos. If they get nervous, they go too fast… and that speeds up their tempo but the CD doesn’t change.”

Lambert says he will be more relieved once the play gets going. After so many years of doing this, he just wants to get going and do it.

“I like to see them do it. People will be thrilled with it. I’m ready to see this thing come alive.”