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StageLights Theatre celebrates 25 years with “Lion King”

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Disney’s “The Lion King” is all about finding out who you are in a vast, complex world. It’s a message that’s resonated with children for decades, and it’s similar to what the kids of StageLights Theatre for Children have been learning over the course of 25 years. The theater is celebrating that milestone with a rendition of the movie-musical-turned-Broadway-musical inside the Williamsburg Library’s theater.

“It’s probably the most challenging play we’ve ever done,” said Richard Parker, the theater’s executive and art director in charge of its summer finale show. “We wanted something big.”

From the complicated choreography to the numerous songs, “The Lion King” is big. StageLights’ version is the slightly abridged Disney Jr. variation, but it remains about 90 minutes with an intermission. All of the songs make the cut.

“They’re perfect for the age of our cast and our audience,” said Judy Zwelling, co-founder and music director.

Because Zwelling has been with StageLights from the beginning, and Parker for 23 years, they’re comfortable picking productions that play well to the young performers and the young audiences they attract.

“It’s important to do a show that the kids know and that they like,” Parker said. Kids love the story of Simba, the lion who rises to be the leader his friends and family need. His story remains popular enough that Disney is planning a live action remake for a 2019 release, in the vein of their recent “Beauty and the Beast” and “Jungle Book” reimaginings.

“He develops compassion and responsibility,” Zwelling said. Kids can relate to the world forcing them to grow up, and she also praised the story’s humor.

The many cool animals are appealing too, especially when the play gives kids the chance to become those animals. For the upcoming production, the theater is using 120 costumes and numerous head pieces.

The production features 33 kids ages 8-14, some with multiple roles. The theater’s goal is to make sure everyone gets plenty of time in the spotlight, whether it’s in a lead role or not.

“We want everybody onstage a great deal of the time,” Zwelling said. She’s in it for the kids, and that’s part of the reason she launched the theater more than two decades ago.

Circle of life

Zwelling’s three daughters were young children at the time. She would drive them to the Hurrah Players’ theater in Norfolk to satisfy their interest in performing.

“I kept waiting for there to be a musical theater program for kids here,” she said.

Eventually, she got tired of waiting. She consulted Hurrah’s director and worked with a similarly minded mother to envision StageLights. It became an educational non-profit group, with kids performing at area schools. In 2000, a partnership with James City County Parks and Recreation allowed the theater use of the Williamsburg Library as a venue, which continues to this day.

Using the library theater helps to avoid some of the overhead associated with operating a facility. It’s smaller than some theaters, seating about 250 people, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. There, the theater has sold out its shows over the last several years.

“We love the intimacy of it,” Parker said. “It allows the energy of the show to hit everybody.”

They don’t use microphones, opting to teach the kids how to project and enunciate, important theatrical skills.

Over time, the theater has added different programs catering to different age groups and different interests, like musical or non-musical productions. They help with respite care at Williamsburg United Methodist Church, capping off performances with the children introducing themselves to their audience. The theater incorporates a live quartet of musicians, including Zwelling on piano. It’s grown much like its kids over the years. It’s the result of countless hours of hard work and a lesson they hope to instill in the kids they see each summer.

“They learn a lot of discipline,” Zwelling said. “We’re quite demanding. Everybody takes many different roles with each other, trying to help each other.”

That effort pays off when former students move on to bigger projects.

“The most interesting thing to me is, we can look back at the kids and what they’ve done,” Parker said.

Earlier this month, former StageLights members Sadie Westbrock and Jack Cherry garnered acclaim as teen leads of the Williamsburg Players’ latest production, “Next to Normal.” It’s the culmination of years of practice, with some kids starting as early as age 8. Zwelling witnesses them tapping into talents even the kids’ parents had yet to see.

“To see what these kids can do is phenomenal,” she said. “They’re talented. Each year they get stronger and stronger.”

Zwelling said she emphasizes to the kids that they’re working in a professional environment, and hopefully that effort is clear to the audience.

“We’re trying to produce the absolute highest quality show that we can,” she said. “I hope they’re blown away by how good the kids are.”

Birkenmeyer can be reached by phone at 757-790-3029.

Want to go?

StageLights presents “The Lion King” at 7 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Saturday at the Williamsburg Regional Library Theatre. Tickets are $10, available by emailing stagelightstheatre@gmail.com or at the door. Children 2 and under are free.