The Lion King - WKTV Journal

Since The Lion King was release 25 years ago, Africa has lost half of its tiger population. (John Ball Zoo)

By Darci David
John Ball Zoo

John Ball Zoo and Celebration Cinema are announcing a community partnership coinciding with the release of The Lion King movie and Lion Day at John Ball Zoo. The partnership is to bring awareness and education towards conservation of African lions.

Africa’s lion numbers are declining. Since the original The Lion King movie was first released 25 years ago, half of Africa’s lions have been lost. Only 20,000 remain. This decline and need for increased conservation efforts are what brought JBZ and Celebration Cinema together. People and organizations are key to saving species. Together, we can find solutions that benefit people and wildlife.

Lion Day at John Ball Zoo is Saturday, July 20. Guests can learn about African lions in the wild and at the Zoo. Activities will focus on education, including learning how one person can make a conservation difference through actions both big and small. MSU’s Snares to Wares will also be onsite to talk about their work improving human livelihood and protecting wildlife in and around the village of Pakwach, Uganda.

John Ball Zoo guests are also encouraged to watch The Lion King at Celebration Cinema. The first 2,000 Zoo guests through the gate on July 20 will receive a coupon good at any Celebration Cinema location for a free popcorn with paid admission to The Lion King.

“We are excited to be partnering with Celebration Cinema,” said John Ball Zoo’s Chief Development & Community Engagement Officer Michael Lomonaco. “Lion conservation is an important initiative for the Zoo and Celebration Cinema supports our work. The release of The Lion King provides a great opportunity to partner and bring public awareness in order to engage our community in conservation efforts that help save the lives of endangered species such as lions.”

The Lion King movie at Celebration Cinema opens the same weekend on Friday, July 19. The “live action” movie features animals of the African savanna, many of which can be seen at John Ball Zoo; including – African lion, warthog, Southern Ground hornbill, and coming in the future Meerkats.

The partnership makes seeing the Zoo’s African animals easier too. People can receive 50 percent off a paid admission at the Zoo with proof of admission to The Lion King at Celebration Cinema.

For cinema locations and to purchase The Lion King tickets online, visit Celebration Cinema at celebrationcinema.com. Details on Lion’s Day at John Ball Zoo can be found at jbzoo.org/lionday.

Jessica Hendy ppeared on Broadway as Grizabella in “*Cats”* as well as in Grand Rapids on its national tour.

By Jeffrey Kaczmarczyk

Grand Rapids Symphony

Ask anyone to name their favorite Broadway musical, and you’ll almost certainly get a list of several, if not many. And there’s only one way to hear music from many of your favorite musicals in one night.

The Grand Rapids Pops presents Blockbuster Broadway, with music from some of Broadway’s biggest and best-loved shows such as The Phantom of the Opera, Les Misérables, Chicago, and many more.

Hear songs from Wicked, The Lion King, and Jersey Boys at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Jan. 26-27, and at 3 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 28. Enjoy old favorites from The Sound of Music and Annie in DeVos Performance Hall, 303 Monroe Ave. NW.

Part of the Fox Motors Pops series, John Varineau will conduct the Grand Rapids Symphony as the orchestra performs an eclectic mix of songs in the show created, produced, and directed by the acclaimed cabaret artist Scott Coulter.

Guests include Jessica Hendy, who previously sang at Grand Rapids Symphony’s “Celebrate America” concert at Cannonsburg Ski Area for the D&W Fresh Market Picnic Pops in July 2009. Hendy previously appeared on Broadway as Grizabella in Cats as well as in Grand Rapids on its national tour.

Scott Coulter, one of New York’s top award-winning vocalists returns to West Michigan to sing “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” with the Grand Rapids Symphony among other songs.

Not long ago, Scott starred in An Evening with Scott Coulter: Broadway and Beyond at Kalamazoo’s Farmer’s Alley Theatre, a theater founded by a friend from music school.

“I think of my [singing] style as musical storytelling,” Scott said to Farmer’s Alley Theatre. “I do pretty familiar material but people often tell me that they felt like they heard the song for the first time – or in a new light.”

It’s not only theater and concert goers who enjoy Scott’s musical interpretation. The Oscar and Grammy award-winning composer Stephen Schwartz, whose work includes Godspell, Wicked, and Enchanted, has described Coulter’s musical talents like this: “One of the best things that can happen to a composer is to have his music interpreted by Scott Coulter.”

Coulter has worked frequently with Schwartz, as have guest soloists Jessica Hendy, Kelli Rabke and John Boswell.

Called a “vocal powerhouse” with great range by critics, Jessica Hendy most recently worked with Schwartz on his cabaret-style show, The Wizard and I. Hendy, whose voice sometime seem to defy gravity, will sing some of the most electric songs of the program including “Circle of Life” from The Lion King, “Memory” from Cats, and, of course, “Defying Gravity” from Wicked.

Kelli Rabke, best known for her role of Narrator in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Eponine in Les Misérables, also worked with Schwartz in The Wizard and I. As a frequent musical partner with Coulter, she will join him again in the upcoming show, Music of the Knights, which features songs composed by three British musical legends, all knighted by the Queen of England: Elton John, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Paul McCartney.

Along with other songs, Rabke will perform, “I Dreamed a Dream,” the song that serves as an emotional lynchpin in Les Misérables, one of the best-known musicals of all-time.

Music Director, pianist, and vocalist John Boswell co-arranged the music for Blockbuster Broadway with Scott Coulter. In addition to writing music for television, John has crafted numerous piano-driven albums, called “accessible, impressionistic tone-poems” by critics. For Blockbuster Broadway, he sings “You’ve Lost that Lovin’ Feelin’” from Beautiful: The Carole King Musical.

With the warmth and energy of the Grand Rapids Symphony, Broadway returns to Grand Rapids. Performed with a live symphony, it’s a rare opportunity to hear some of Broadway’s best songs by stellar vocalists.

Tickets

Tickets start at $18 and are available at the GRS ticket office, weekdays 9 am-5 pm at 300 Ottawa Ave. NW, Suite 100, (located across from the Calder Plaza), or by calling 616.454.9451 x 4. (Phone orders will be charged a $2 per ticket service fee, with a $12 maximum.)

Tickets are available at the DeVos Place box office, weekdays 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. or on the day of the concert beginning two hours prior to the performance. Tickets also may be purchased online at GRSymphony.org.

Full-time students of any age are able to purchase tickets for only $5 on the night of the concert by enrolling in the GRS Student Ticketsprogram, sponsored by Comerica and Calvin College. This is a MySymphony360 eligible concert.