Zeke the Lion
“If I Were King Of The Forest not queen, not duke, not prince.
My regal robes of the forest would be satin, not cotton, not chintz
I’d command each thing, be it fish or fowl, with a woof and a woof, and a royal growl”
Summer in New York has arrived! It’s getting steamy here. When it comes to cooling off my apartment, I have a ton of things working against me. First of all, I live on the 6th floor! Secondly, my apartment gets amazing sunlight - great for waking up, terrible for cooling off the living room. Third and most important, I love to cook. Every night the oven is on, the burners are going and I am a shiny, sticky, puddle of myself. At this time of year, as I begin to stick to my clothes, I am reminded of this two week production I choreographed of The Wizard of Oz and my not so cowardly Lion.
Many moons ago, the summer camp I work at was doing the Wizard of Oz. It was one of those productions where it felt like everything was working against you… except the kids. We had parents complaining about their young children not being Dorothy and were constantly dealing with emails and phone calls, the toilets overflowed in our studio space and we had a phantom student putting feces on the wall in the boys bathroom. (To this day I am positive it was not my kids, but rather the younger 4-6 year old crew sharing the space). These things coupled with a few other annoying little nuances like the tracks not working on my Ipod (I said it was a while ago) and our speaker dying... let’s just say, it was not my favorite week of camp.
I’m not sure if this particular group of students saw our frustrations with everything and were just trying to be kind OR if they were just a heaven sent group of students, (which totally happens). They were a fun, energetic and hard working group. Specifically, the four friends - Lion, Tinman, Scarecrow, Dorothy.
The student playing the Lion, we shall call him Zeke, was particularly awesome. This was my first time working with him and I adored his energy. This 13 year-old confident kid was a go getter, ready to take risks and try something new but also incredibly respectful and witty. He was not the best dancer but he practiced that ‘We’re off to See the Wizard Dance’ so much, each time with more energy than the time before. I actually think his enthusiasm was what was making him fall over. He loved being the Lion. He loved roaring at people, acting like The Lion at lunch, talking in his cowardly Lion voice when answering questions and marching around with the other characters, arm and arm, as if they all really were all best friends. We were never really sure where Zeke ended and The Lion began.The other students loved his oddness, the staff adored his kind heart.
Week two comes rolling around and we started off with a bang. The air conditioner in the theater breaks! It was the beginning of July with not a drop of rain the the forecast. The theater was muggy and humid from the second we walked in, but then you add theatrical lighting and costumes … bleh. It was horrible. We did everything to keep the kids hydrated and happy for the day and a half the air conditioner wasn’t working. Including, telling any student who didn’t want to wear their costume that they could rehearse in street clothes until it was fixed. Our main worry of course was Zeke. A full furry lion costume, including a headpiece, a tail, foot covers and gloves… in July… with no air conditioning. Add the fact that he was a thirteen year old boy and you got yourself one nasty lion costume!
We were five minutes away from a run through of the show, so I headed downstairs to check in on the students, make sure they are all drinking water, and Zeke was sitting in his full lion costume playing with his tail, singing ‘If I Were King of the Forest’... alone.
Me: Zeke - You don’t have to be in costume! Rehearse in your street clothes. You must be so hot.
Zeke: ARE YOU KIDDING ME! It’s like a funeral for my fat in here. I love it! Also… it’s my character!
The second part of that he said in such a teenage tone. Like ‘Duh’ Lexie - I need my costume to fully transform in to the Lion. Pay attention!
Me: Okay! (so I start to leave and then turn around) Just, please don’t die!
Zeke: (Puts his thumb up from inside his Lion paw glove) You got it!
Things were going so well for Zeke until we hit The Jitterbug, the biggest dance number in the show. It’s long, hard and very aerobic. This was not an easy number for Zeke in street clothes, let alone a lion costume. He had been practicing and practicing, with an overwhelming amount of enthusiasm of course, and wanted to show me that he really could do it! As we hit the thirty second mark in number, you could see Zeke starting to lose steam so he did the most logical thing, he took off his headpiece. Twenty more seconds and he lost both gloves, ripping them off his sweaty little hands and throwing them backstage. At the ninety second mark, his shoe covers came right off - flying across the air as if they had physically harmed him in some way. Zeke just kept dancing! The only other thing left to go was the onesie! He didn’t have time to get it off but he did unzip the back to reveal he was wearing a full set of clothes underneath the costume!
The Director, Music Director and I sat in the audience watching this phenomenal young human do strip dance on stage… dressed as a lion… to the Jitterbug. We were guffawing.
Of course Zeke apologized at the end of the run for not being able to stay in his costume. (No apologies necessary) You could see the disappointment streaming down his shiny face. The kid just wanted to be The Lion at all times.
The next morning - the air conditioner was fixed. Zeke went back in to his Lion costume for all the run throughs, nailed the Jitterbug dance and all was right with the world.
