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THE LION KING
New Amsterdam Theatre July 8, 1997- Present




Original Broadway Cast

Jason Raize as Simba
Samuel E. Wright as Mufasa
John Vickery as Scar
Scott Irby-Ranniar as Young Simba
Max Casella as Timon
Tom Alan Robbins as Pumbaa
Tsidii Le Loka as Rafiki
Heather Headley as Nala
Geoff Hoyle as Zazu
Tracy Nicole Chapman as Shenzi
Stanley Wayne Mathis as Banzi
Kevin Cahoon as Ed
Gina Breedlove as Sarabi
Kajuana Shuford as Young Nala

Songs in the Broadway musical:

Act One

Circle of Life
Morning Report
The Lioness Hunt
I Just Can't Wait to be King
Chow Down
They Live in You
Be Prepared
Be Prepared (Reprise)
Hakuna Matata

Act Two

One by One
The Madness of King Scar
Shadowland
Endless Night
Can You Feel the Love Tonight
He Lives in You (Reprise)
King of Pride Rock
Circle of Life (Reprise)

Musical Adaptation

The musical incorporates several changes and additions to the storyline as compared to the film. The mandrill Rafiki's gender was changed to a female role, as Taymor believed there was generally no leading female character in the film. Rafiki was portrayed by Tsidii Le Loka in the original Broadway musical, and by Josette Bushell-Mingo in the original London production.


Several new scenes are present, including a conversation between Mufasa and Zazu about whether Mufasa is raising Simba correctly, and a perilous scene where Timon finds himself nearly drowning in a waterfall while Simba feels powerless to help him. A major narrative addition is the depiction of Nala's departure in the scene "The Madness of King Scar", where the mentally deteriorating villain tries to make Nala his mate. Nala refuses, and later announces her intention to depart the Pride Lands and find help. She receives the blessings of the lionesses and Rafiki during the new song "Shadowland."

Awards:

Tony Award for Best Musical
Tony Award for Best Scenic Design for a Musical
Tony Award for Best Costume Design for a Musical
Tony Award for Best Lighting Design for a Musical
Tony Award for Best Choreography
Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical - Tsidii Le Loka
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Choreography - Garth Fagan
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Direction of a Musical - Julie Taymor
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design of a Musical - Scenic Design by Richard Hudson
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Costume Design - Costume Design by Julie Taymor
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lighting Design - Lighting Design by Donald Holder
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Sound Design - Sound Design by Tony Meola
Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Puppet Design - Puppet Design by Julie Taymor, Michael Curry
Theatre World Award

Official Websites

http://disney.go.com/theatre/thelionking/ Broadway
http://www2.disney.co.uk/MusicalTheatre/TheLionKing/home/index.jsp West End

All taken from Wikipedia.

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That said, has anyone seen this musical?

Thoughts, opinions, reviews?

Please discuss!!

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http://teendramaforum.proboards.com/
http://twitter.com/clemxens

I haven't seen it on Broadway, but I've seen the Nation Tour twice, once in Michigan and once in Florida. The Lion King is tied for my favorite musical (alongside RENT). The show is amazing on many different levels.

First of all, the story is amazing, and though it is told through lions, it is a very human story. It goes above and beyond the simplified Disney animated version and reaches new depths, thanks to director Julie Taymor.

The music is beautiful too, all of the favorite songs from the film version are still there, plus many new ones that help tell the story. Some of my favorites in the musical include "He Lives in You" (and Reprise) as well as Shadowland. These songs are very beautiful and help advance some of the most key sequences in the show.

Another great aspect of the show is the choreography. Grath Fagan is incredibly talented and did an amazing job of bringing this show to life. The way that he has humans moving around to portray animal characters. The movements and the dance sequences are really special.

One of the most notable things about the show is the visuals. When you see The Lion King on stage, your eyes are really in for a treat. The costumes are very beautiful and intricately made. The animal characters are really brought to life through the creative costume work. Also, the lighting and the props are very colorful. Every scene, especially the opening sequence, is breathtaking.

The Lion King is one of the most incredible shows you can possibly see on stage. It is truly deserving of all the hype that is received. Fans of the animated film would love the musical, and I think even those who are not fans of the film would even find the show to be rather enjoyable. I have seen the show twice already and I hope to see it again in the future. I think this is an amazing story being told through the form of a Broadway musical, and I think this show will be around for a long time. IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN IT YET, I WOULD HIGHLY RECOMMEND SEEING IT!! It is worth every penny.

I've never seen it, and to be honest, I'm not too interested in seeing it. I'd watch it if I had nothing better to do. Although I'd probably watch it and end up loving it lol.

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"Hip hop frightens you, doesn't it....Hmmm...Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate. Hate leads to endlessly posting threads about stupid white people. Hmmmmm....."

I love Siren!

Never seen it, though I'd like to. It's just that my boyfriend and I get to Manhattan so infrequently that other shows are a priority with us. And, truth be told, my guy's not into Disney as much as I am. The last shows we saw were Hairspray & Xanadu. I DO have the OC album, though. Actually I haven't seen ANY Disney on B'way!

jon

I alot liked it better than the movie than inspired it. The energy of the live performances, the puppetry, the way the songs were sung it made the story 100% better for me. Only problem was seeing this show and having a couple of kids talk through certain parts because they couldn't realize this wasn't a movie.

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Probably the best Disney show on Broadway at any given point, mostly because of Julie Taymor's inspired direction. It could have so easily become a goofy abstract mess *coughcoughTHELITTLEMERMAIDcoughcough*, but she somehow managed to make it work.

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"Ta ta ta taaaa! Look at me... I'm a snowman! I'm gonna go stand on someone's lawn if I don't get something to do around here pretty soon!"

While I haven't seen it in New York, I have seen it during it's tenure at The Princess of Whales Theater in Toronto. It wasn't just a play, it was an experience. I would watch this a million times over and would definitely watch it over the movie.

The Broadway recordings used to be on repeat on my iPod, but it's recently been replaced (not entirely mind you, many songs still remain on my player) by the recordings of Hairspray and Wicked. "He Lives In You" is still one of my all time favourite songs though.

I actually haven't seen it, either.

I'm pretty sure we're seeing it next year, though. I want to see it so bad, though. It looks amazing, and the addition of songs is totally welcome in my book. A lot of people don't like how they changed it a little bit, but really, what did they change? I think they just improved upon it, and made it better.

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http://teendramaforum.proboards.com/
http://twitter.com/clemxens

That's where I saw it too. Good theater for that show.

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There aren't many "changes" really, the story is just expanded a bit more. The film is roughly an hour and a half, while the musical is TWO and a half hours. The only part that I thought was really different is that Nala, as well as the rest of the lionesses have a much larger role in this version. Oh, and the fact that Rafiki is played by a woman in the play, but I don't really think that is a big deal though.

And Scar tries to get biz-zay with Nala, bom chicka wow woowwwww. And "Morning Report" is in the show whether you like it or not.

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"Ta ta ta taaaa! Look at me... I'm a snowman! I'm gonna go stand on someone's lawn if I don't get something to do around here pretty soon!"

It's now been over 5 years since I saw it at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood. Loathed it, from opening act to closing act. Nearly every scene was absolutely appalling. A disgrace to what I consider the finest post-Walt Disney animated film.

Care to fill us on on why you hate it, T/P Fan?

I, on the other hand, am very interested in seeing it, and am thinking about buying the OBC CD.

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http://teendramaforum.proboards.com/
http://twitter.com/clemxens

No real reason, he just seems to hate everything in general.

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"Hip hop frightens you, doesn't it....Hmmm...Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate. Hate leads to endlessly posting threads about stupid white people. Hmmmmm....."

I love Siren!

'The Lion King' Crowned Broadway's Top Earner of All Time
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/l ... ney-309685

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I know, I know . . . old quote is old. But I saw the show back when it was still in Vegas and it didn't include "Morning Report."

Thankfully.

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My Blu-rays.

Well NOW it's not. JEEZ.

It was one of the streamlining casualties, was it not, along with "Chow Down." The higher-ups decided to shorten the show for today's addled child by making some cuts after, you know, it had run for 10 years. I think the tour of "Beauty and the Beast" cut some stuff also ("No Matter What" and maybe some other little... thing).

ALSO I LIKE THE MORNING REPORT SO YOU CAN ALL SIT ON A PIN

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"Ta ta ta taaaa! Look at me... I'm a snowman! I'm gonna go stand on someone's lawn if I don't get something to do around here pretty soon!"

It's just as well that the show was streamlined into something shorter. One of the restless little strangers stepped on my feet several times when trying to walk past my seat. And then Rey lost our car keys after the show . . . fun night, actually.

But yes, there was also no "Chow Down," almost forgot about that. Hadn't listened to the cast recording in forever by the time I actually got to see it. I mainly wanted to see Scar getting all freaky on Nala- er, I mean, I mostly wanted to hear see Shadowlands live. And be treated to a night out. With puppets!

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My Blu-rays.

I mean, I understand WHY they'd cut it down, but I would prefer to see the show as it had been. I'm not wildly enamored with "Chow Down" and I'd rather see it cut than, say, pretty much any other new song, but it's the principle, man!

From what I can tell in addition to "No Matter What," "Maison des Lunes" was axed from the touring production along with a verse from "Home," and apparently so was the battle between the villagers and the enchanted objects, which just seems profoundly stupid.

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"Ta ta ta taaaa! Look at me... I'm a snowman! I'm gonna go stand on someone's lawn if I don't get something to do around here pretty soon!"

Holy crap. "Maison De Lunes" was probably my favorite of the new songs. Never really cared to see the Broadway version anyway (unless I could get it on an extremely deep discount) as the costumes seemed sorta weird and gaudy to me. The cast recording was enough to get me by.

And technically speaking, I really would have preferred to see The Lion King in its entirety, but my excitement for it sorta waned in the past decade, and my enjoyment of "The Morning Report" dissipated with that god-awful added scene to the animated film.

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My Blu-rays.