GOODBYE YOUNG SIMBA

And so, we have said goodbye to a cast member for the first time. One of our Young Simbas has had to leave the show. The problem with casting the kids in the show, especially the boys, is that they have to be around the age when 'changes' start to happen. Young Leon, who turned 13 while he was with us, started to grow like a radioactive weed (I swear he'd grow an inch in two days) and his voice started to break, making it very difficult for him to sing his song.

It was heart-warming/heart-breaking to witness his farewell speech as his boyish self struggled with the emerging young man. While the young man made a very eloquent, mature speech, saying that he'd learned so much from each one of us and that he'll never forget the experience, the boy cried uncontrollably.

I admit that I also got a bit teary-eyed, as I did when I saw his Facebook status one night which said, "Don't be sad that it's over, be happy that it happend."

Goodbye Leon

Previous to Leon's departure, a new Young Simba, Nicholas, was hired. The first Singaporean in the cast. He rehearsed in the afternoons for a few weeks and, as of last night, has now completed his second performance with us. He's done an admirable job for one so young. I could tell that he was nervous, but he knows his stuff and with a few more shows under his belt, he'll look like an old pro.


Here's a sample of the kind of antics Lyall and I get up to to amuse ourselves in the dressing room...




The daily weather forecast in Singapore is pretty much the same all the time. In fact, our physiotherapist told me that at one point, she thought the weatherman had died and they were just running an old recording every day..."Hot, humid, partly cloudy with rain on some parts of the island." We did have a couple of weeks, however, when you could set your watch by the afternoon monsoon. It never lasts for very long, but it's definatley not your long-walks-in-the-rain kind of rain. I caught this video from my apartment window one lazy afternoon at home.