Earlier on Thursday, award-winning choral group Mosaica performed a Lion King musical at the OES Culture & Sports Building Theater, The Orthodox Educational Society.
Mosaica, is a group that unites people from a variety of backgrounds, cultures, ages, the members ages start from the age of 18 and above, the musical group aims to unite diverse people to create a beautiful sound.
Formed in 2019 by musical director Nedy Muna, artistic director Mercedes Alonso, and operations director Hala Qubein, Mosaica's Lion King musical will take you on a magical musical journey to appreciate the story which emphasizes self-discovery, leadership, love, loss, and redemption.
Nedy Muna with his Majesty King Abdullah II
Mercedes Alfonso
Hala Qubein
Albawaba's reporter Alexandra Abumuhor talked with Muna to learn more about the story behind the broadway musical which will be taking place from 9th of June till the 12th of June, and to share the story of the preparations, Muna revealed that they first started preparing for the show in February, and it took around 4 months to be ready, he then added that the expected audience will reach around 1200 people.
Nedy opened up about wanting to mix both Arabic and English into the musical, ''we tried to add Arabic songs to the production by using songs sung in the Egyptian Lion King remake, we used three songs of the Arabic version and the rest were English'' Nedy stated.
''Our musical will be more of a story telling kind of performance, as we will be portraying the stages of the movie into the theatrical concert.'' Nedy added.
Nedy explained to Abumuhor the reason why Mosaica chose to perform the Lion King musical saying: ''Everybody loves Lion King, but we chose it specifically because its original musical depends on a choir, and a singing group, as other musicals focus only on soloists''
Nedy Muna - Musical Director
The musical director said that for their group, Lion King was the perfect option.
Alexandra revealed that the performance was super interesting as the performance was spectacular with a clear view of the performer's emotions, adding that it was a killer theatrical achievement, with a beautiful harmony of vocals and successful choreography.
''Costumes were designed as headpieces which gave the audience a clear vision of the facial expressions of the performers, which was emotional and beautiful, when the performers wanted to sing a happy song, the audience could feel that vibe.'' Said Alexandra.
She continued: 'And when the piece was more emotional -when they portrayed the death of Mufasa- you could feel the loss and the sadness, and feeling those emotions from a performance was so beautiful.''
The Lion King musical performed by Mosaica included 16 acts of the original musical, but pianist Nareg Abajian revealed that the pieces were slightly edited to fit the style of the performance .
Soloists who performed at the show were Violet Bawab, Yahya Sanusi, Ayyoub Tams, Heba Jundi, Dana Kharoufeh, Leen Abu Lail, Nagham Malhas and Ayman Faza.
The show was completed with the help of 10 musicians, Bassem Jabber playing the bass guitar, Fadi Hattar on the Cello, Maher Hanhan on the drums, Tom Hornig playing the saxophone, Kusai Diqir on the guitar, Percussions were played by Awwad Awwad and Belal Ashmouti, Trumpet played by Dulamah Shihab, and Violin Hassan Nader.
The musical will take place at the OES Culture & Sports Building Theater, The Orthodox Educational Society in Amman, Jordan, from the 9th of June till the 12th of June at 8:00 pm.
