Show time: Spectacular Lion King

December 2022

Pā Harakeke’s Christmas tree is up, our schools are celebrating the end of the school year with shows, events and gatherings, and summer is here!

At Flaxmere Primary School the sounds of Africa rang out in the last week of November, as a elephants, big cats, rhinos, giraffes, emus, gazelles, birds, bugs and cranes took to the stage in a spine-tingling production of The Lion King. The costumes were incredible and the singing phenomenal.

Over the last 10 weeks the cast of more than 130 students has honed the production,

supported by a wealth of stage crew. All were corralled by Performing Arts teacher and show director Michael Sharp, for whomThe Lion King is a very special show. “It spans generations, is timeless, and has a depth thathas really stretched out kids to new heights – I’m so very proud.”

Principal (and chief of programming and marketing for the production) Robyn Isaacson said she could not be prouder. “The hard work, resilience and commitment of our students and staff has been nothing short of incredible. I want to thank everyone involved – staff have spent many hours of their own time creating sets and costumes, our Board of Trustees shared the vision and fully supported us and, of course, our whanau who patiently listened to endless renditions of the songs as the children practiced at home.”