The Department of Foreign Languages and Literature at Asia University (AU) had a graduation performance adapted from the Disney classical animation “The Lion King.” Turning the big screen into a Broadway musical, the students not only spoke English throughout the play but also made by themselves African costumes, properties, and curtains to decorate the stage. With their great singing and dancing, the musical brought the house down.

    “The Lion King is actually Hamlet,” said the director Bo-Jun Shi. Simba (played by Jian-Min Chen) is the son of the lion king Mufasa (played by Xing-Yi Zhong), who was set up and killed by his own brother Scar (played by Guan-Yu Su), and taken away the crown. Simba blamed himself for his father’s death and left his country sadly. During the period of exile, he encountered the porcupine Pumbaa (played by Yong-Jun Liu) and the meerkat Timon (played by Xiao-Feng Zhu), who kept his company and helped him overcome difficulties, before he was found in the forest by his playmate Nala (played by Yin-Yin Zeng). Through the encouragement of the baboon Rafiki (played by Si-Han Wu), Simba returned to his kingdom and got back the crown. Kiara (played by Yi-Wen Li), daughter of Simba, and her lover Kovu (played by Yu-Xuan Zheng) also realized the story of the revenge in the end.

  The play started with the song “Circle of Life” by the baboon Rafiki, indicating natural rules for the creatures. The hungry hyenas (played by Ci-Long Lin, Qian-Yi Shu, and Yu-Wei Liao) followed to sing “Chow Down” with the desire of hunting. The most touching scene was the moment when the lioness Nala and the lion Simba sang “Can You Feel the Love Tonight,” showing affection for each other. In the end of the play, the actors sang together “We Are One” and won a burst of applause.

  Bo-Jun Shi said that it took most efforts to make the stage properties. The style of the hyenas was designed as shining as Lady Gaga and the properties for the giraffe and zebra were modified again and again. The actor who played the lion was not wearing a lion mask until the curtain call because the mask would affect the performance. The make-up of the actors was also sophisticated. The bird Zazu (played by Yun-Xuan Zhou) wore blue and white on the face, by which the audience could easily tell that it was a bird at the first sight. Moreover, the actors worked on the English pronunciation and body movements so hard that they finally made a perfect performance.

  “We roared and howled more than the original Lion King. It was brilliant!” said Xuan-Ping Wang, the chief supervisor of the graduation performance. During the half year of preparation, the students did everything carefully, including stage properties, costumes, rehearsal, stage decoration, promotion design, fundraising, and dance arrangement. Starting from scratch, they devoted themselves to create a touching play and leaving a great memory as well.

  Ying-Huei Chen, Chair of the Foreign Languages and Literature Department, said that the graduation performance this year was instructed by Lecture Jeff Harrison and Associate Professor Hsin-Fa Wu. The 108 graduates took the course “English Drama Practice” since the second term of junior and voted “The Lion King” as the theme of graduation performance. The cast was selected through audition in public and performed a successful play.