Wednesday, July 2, 2008

A brief ode to Disney

I am going to take a moment out of my current thread of DC topics to give a brief ode to my favorite company/entity/state of mind. This past weekend I not only saw yet another reason to love the marriage between Pixar and Disney in Wall-E, I was able to attend the opening weekend of The Lion King at Kennedy Center. It was like a brief visit into a world I usually have to fly to Orlando to get to.

In all my attempts to explain my love of the Mouse, I always get that blank look with a vague idea that the person is laughing at me behind their eyes. Why would someone who has gone to Walt Disney World ten times at last count long to go again? Haven't you seen it all yet? How many more pictures of the Castle does one really need? To which, any Disney fan worth their salt replies, just one more of course. Since being forced to grow up and go off to college and now graduate school, I don't get to go nearly as much as I used to (at least it feels that way - I think the truth is Mom and Daddy just go more now that my sister and I aren't home). So any little way I can bring Disney to me, I jump on it. I read the blogs faithfully and download the podcasts to listen to at work while haunting the discussion boards. Every new Disney movie, every time I can watch the Disney Channel for a little while, each time Samantha Brown is on the Travel Channel with a Disney special, I savor it.

So, a weekend where I get a movie and a musical, I am in heaven. Let us begin with Wall-E. I have been watching the trailer for this eons ago it seems and I knew I was already in love with the little guy before I sat down in the theater. For those of you who saw my facebook status later on Friday after I saw it, you know I found my soul mate. It is characters like Wall-E that cements my love for this entity that is Disney. Not too mention, they gave props to one of my all-time favorite musicals, Hello Dolly! How could I not love this?! Yet another reason I have to agree with many of the Disney Bloggers when they say Lasseter is the second coming of Disney.

Next up this past weekend was possible through a stroke of luck that must of used my luck quota up through next year. But it was worth it. My supervisor at work came in on Friday with a single ticket to see The Lion King, just opened at Kennedy Center this past week. I think it was the fact I practically jumped onto my knees for the ticket that got me the ticket - I must have looked pathetic but put Disney and Broadway together for me and that is near nirvana. So, I ventured off Saturday night to Kennedy Center, a place in and of itself amazing to see a production. The Opera House is massive with an absolutely beautiful ceiling fixture. It was lots of little chandeliers making up the design of a snowflake. I had seen The Lion King before in Rochester, NY, aka on a small stage and from several levels up. This night, I sat second row, three seats in from the aisle. The drummer was right next to me as well and was interesting in himself to watch at times. The first time I took in the spectacle that is the stage show, this time I got to revel in it. To see the facial expressions and to enjoy which was a better cast than my first experience. The opening sequence (recently just played on the Tony broadcast as it celebrating 10 years on Broadway) simply takes your breath away. It was a fabulous production and had that touch of something extra that I can only find from a Disney story - especially one hailing from the second golden age of Disney animation.

So, I just needed to get out an ode to a love of my life. I will now return the regularly scheduled programming of my DC summer.

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