Hakuna Matata!
Jonas Southwell, playing adult Simba, finally defeating Scar in the final fight
Jayden Gagneur, as young Simba, guiltily looking into Mufasa’s eyes after being rescued from the elephant boneyard.
The Lion King Jr. - RRT Youth Theater Camp ‘23
KLAMATH FALLS, Ore. -This year’s debut of Ross Ragland’s youth theater camps production of The Lion King Jr. was spectacular. Seventy-two kids between the ages of ten and eighteen spent three intense weeks preparing for the live-action show on Saturday.
If you had the time to see it, I’m sure you weren’t the only one to have a memorable tear escape your eye as the precious Simba cub cried over the tragic loss of his father, Mufasa.
“The kids all worked really hard. It’s a really intensive camp. We teach them how to audition, how to process the emotion for not getting the part they wanted, and get them used to being on the big stage, which can be very intimidating,” says camp choreographer Samantha Burris. “They have a lot to learn in a short amount of time, but I think they all did great. They all worked really well together.”
The cast anticipated performing two shows. The first was at 2:00 PM, with the second at 5:30 PM. Minutes before showtime, the theater auditorium seats were filled with supportive family and friends who were just as excited and nervous as the cast for the show to start.
“We had just under roughly 500 people at the later showing, and over 850 people total,” stated Natalie Postles, marketing director for the Ross Ragland Theater. “It was also our first event we offered live streaming for and got roughly 20 people that watched digitally.”
Timon, played by Lilyana Phelps, marching away with confidence after befriending Simba.
12-Year-old Jayden Gagneur played the part of young Simba. When asked why he signed up for camp, he responded by saying, “Well, you know Klamath Falls doesn’t have much to do, so when I saw this camp, I thought, well, I like doing this sort of stuff. I want to get signed up, so that’s exactly what I did.”
With such a big role to play in his first theater performance, it was easy for him to pick out his favorite part of it all. “Hakuna Matata!” he said with a smile, “You get to sing along, and the trees just wave, yeah that was my favorite part.”
As the show continued, more perfectly portrayed emotions were expressed when now-grown Simba was reunited with his best friend Nala. As you may remember from the movie, Nala ferociously chased down our beloved friends Timon and Pumba; Simba heroically comes to their rescue, gets pinned, and then realizes who it was. Laughter filled the auditorium when Timon was shocked that no one was bothered that Nala had just tried to eat them.
Each of the sixteen scenes had a projection screen with picture clips from the original movie, choreographed dances, or singing cast members that brought the entire scene to life.
Actor Jonas Southwell and actress Seattle Trejo played a beautiful example of lion love as they sang “can you feel the love tonight” and danced through the trees with a playful hide-and-seek rendition.
14-year-old Trejo, who played adult Nala, said her favorite part of being in this production was all the music and dancing her character required. “I really liked the dancing and the way she moves. I also really like belting and singing, so I really liked all the music The Lion King has.”
Even with a background in dance and voice lessons high on her priority list, the production made her realize how hard it was not to laugh when she held hands with Simba and looked him straight in the eyes. Nevertheless, the portrayal of her character Nala was simply breathtaking.
Each child actor made a fantastic contribution this year, bringing this story to life flawlessly. The smiling faces and genuine emotion they showed as they embraced their parts were beautiful to watch.
Theater camps start every year during the last week in July. Next year is already in the books and set to perform Finding Nemo.
