The New, Improved Musical, 'Be A Lion' Returns For Its Fourth Season!

(Singing) "Follow the yellow brick road! Follow the yellow brick road! Follow, Follow, Follow, Follow...Follow the yellow brick road." What happens when the yellow brick road ends, Dorothy goes home to Kansas, and the Wizard leaves Oz? The award-winning playwright/director/producer Rory Sheriff, of Brand New Sheriff Productions, imaginatively supplies that answer with his Broadway-style stage play entitled, Be A Lion, a parody of The Wiz, the African American version of the Wizard of Oz. Be A Lion returns to the Duke Energy Theater, at Spirit Square, Wednesday, May 31st through Friday, June 9th.

The story-line of Be A Lion is centered around The Lion's campaign to become the next leader of The Emerald City following The Wizard's hasty departure. He, along with his devoted friend, Miles, The Mouse (Kineh N'gaojia) is on a quest to convince his Wiz friends, The Tin Man, The Scarecrow, and of course, Dorothy to assist him in gaining control of the lawlessness that now exists in Oz...now that he has the courage to do so. It's an interesting twist of a classic masterpiece infused with a modern day urban-awareness flair.

Rory states: "This is our 4th season of performing "Be A Lion". My excitement level is through the roof! I believe when any playwright/director produces new and original work, it should improve with every season and this season is no exception. After losing sleep at night on how I can make this production better, I discovered that there is room for improvement with my stage set and talent. We've added more songs, specifically hip-hop and spoken word with more in depth choreography. My expectations are to deliver a Hamilton like type of experience.

A few weeks ago, I had an opportunity to see a sneak preview of some of the new cast at the Metrolina Theatre Association's networking event and the singing was amazing. In fact, one of the new cast members include Elijah Ali (The Tin Man) who previously portrayed the role of the Homeless Man in my original musical, The Gift". There is also new leads...Tony Massey portrays The Lion and Ruby Edwards is his love interest, the sassy lioness, LaDawn. Not all are new, Melody Williams resumes her role as Damneesha, the evil daughter of the wicked witch, Evileene. And, Nailyah Gardner returns as Dorothy. Theater-goers you are in for a treat! I can't wait to see the improvements Rory mentioned.

Tickets can be purchased at Carolinatix.org and are going fast! Be A Lion is fun entertainment for the entire family. Make sure you purchase yours today!

TICKETS: May 31 - June 9, http://www.carolinatix.org, Phone: (704) 372-1000