An incredible talent... an incredible loss

Every so often a song grabs hold of me and won't let go. And I know I am way behind the times here since The Lion King has been on stage since 1997, but I saw it for the first time last month in London. During the play, I heard a song that I didn't remember being associated with the movie, and it just knocked my socks off, moving me to tears. I finally remembered to look for it this week on iTunes, and I learned there were two versions of the song: the first was Mafusa (the elder Lion King father) singing They Live in You to a young Simba, his son. The second was a reprise where the mandrill Rafiki is singing to an adult Simba the version, He Lives in You.

The reprise reminds me of a gospel song-- "He lives in you, he lives in me, he watches over everything we see, into the water, into the truth, in your reflection, he lives in you." It mentions "have faith, and there's no mountain too great." Sounds like the lyric writer knew Christ. The writer/composer credits to this song goes to three men: Lebo M, Mark Marcina, and Jay Rifkin, all very talented musicians.

I found several YouTube versions of the songs, and my favorite was from a segment of Rosie O'Donnell's show that aired in 1997 with the original cast members. They combined both versions of the song. Here is the link if you'd like to take a look:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryhslEPIUH0

Samuel Wright as Mufasa has the most amazingly rich voice-- perfect for the older Lion King, and Tsidii Le Loka as Rafiki does a fantastic job in her role, but the performance that blew me away was Jason Raize as the older Simba singing only a few lines at the end of the song.

http://www.jasonraize.net/

I have watched a number of other Simba performers in clips since them, and the London actor I saw was outstanding, but Jason owns the role. And his performance on the Rosie O'Donnell show was so much better than his recorded version of the reprise from the "official" theater cast album. I guess there's just something about performing in front of a live audience that pulls the best out of some people. I was keenly aware that I was watching something very special and someone very gifted, and I would have loved to have seen him perform in The Lion King or any other production. Wow.

Then I read some of the comments by viewers and was shocked to learn that Jason had committed suicide back in 2004, and I haven't been able to shake the sadness for days. And the fact that he somehow lost his way and his friends and family didn't seem to have a clue that he was troubled is especially disheartening. Maybe he wasn't. Are they sure it was a suicide? I have found a lot of news reports from that time that all seem to say the same thing, but they actually say very little. And I found no comments from his peers and the people he knew and worked with. What am I missing here? Maybe I just didn't dig deep enough.

I downloaded Samuel Wright's recording of They Live in You, as well as one of the song's composers Lebo M's version, and also Tsidii Le Loka and Jason's reprise, He Lives in You, all of which I've listened to over and over again the past few days. And I keep going back to watch the YouTube combination of both songs-- my favorite. I love to watch Jason sing those few lines with everything he's got. It makes me want to put that kind of effort into something creative and worthwhile... something that will last beyond me.

I'm so, so sorry Jason's life ended way too early. What an incredible talent and an irreplaceable loss to his family and friends, and incredible loss to his many fans, even late-comers like me.