Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Behind the Scenes: ‘Monkeying Out’ with the Tumble Monkeys at ‘Festival of the Lion King’
Disney Parks Blog: One of my favorite parts of my job with the Disney Parks Blog is that I occasionally get to go behind the scenes and try out something that is really amazing, like stunt car driving at “Lights! Motors! Action! Extreme Stunt Show,” or learning stage combat at the “Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular.”
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Even though I don’t really know much about Disney as a company, I really appreciate the way they seem to treat their employees. Not many huge corporations like this have managed to hold on to the “employees as family” idea that Disney has through the years and thought the CEOs. That this blog writer would have so many opportunities to experience the arts and get a deeper look at what it takes to make wonderful, magical shows like this is just amazing to see. It really shows that you can be involved in the arts at many levels, even if you just write about them post performance. Examples like these only make it more important that we encourage this sort of involvement even in fields that don’t seem directly related to the arts. Bravo Disney. No wonder everyone wants to work for them, they make it a point to carry the magic on past the performance.
This article makes me so happy. As a child I loved going to the Animal Kingdom, spending a day at the park, and then ending it with The Festival of the Lion King show. And I must say that as a child the monkeys were the best part. I can see why they are called the crowd pleasers. This show incorporates so many different talents in one. You have the face characters, automation, singers, dancers, silks, and acrobats. But the difference that separates the monkeys from the rest of the show and their stage presences. Yes in this article they show the acrobatics that are used in the piece and how the men where able to do what they can do, but their acting skills are what really gets me. I love the talent that people incorporate in their performance. And these men art really great at making the monkeys one of the funniest and most amazing parts of this show.
I remember about 4 years ago we went to Disney, specifically Animal Kingdom, and I remember my family and I debating on whether or not we should go to see The Festival of the Lion King and we ended up not going because my older sisters thought that it would be "childish". After watching this video, I'm upset that I never got to see it in person. One of the things that stuck out to me was in the video they mentioned how the actors got the opportunity to study how the monkeys acted. This shows me that Disney was actually dedicated to this show and wanted to create an authentic experience for their audiences. It is similar to how Julie Taymor put in so much research for the original production, she also wanted to create an authentic experience. One of the other things that is interesting is that the show does not actually follow the story of The Lion King, but rather the themes and ideas that surround it. I actually like that they do this because they are respecting both the movie and the musical, but still creating an innovative experience.
I went to Disney World 3 years ago and I still remember going to the Festival of The Lion King show. At first I thought it was going to be a kid show, but it was actually a very good production. All of the costumes and songs and dances were very well done. Most of the time little shows in theme parks are not very good, but Disney produces very high-level productions for their parks. The monkeys were definitely one of the most exciting parts of the show because it was different. Most of it was singing and dancing and there were very cool animatronic animals. The monkeys brought excitement by flying around and doing a lot of cool tricks. That takes a lot of athleticism as well as acting. They probably had to train a lot to get the precision just right, but also look a little sloppy like monkeys are. I wonder if they have understudies in case they get hurt?
I actually did lighting for a small travel show of Disney’s ‘Festival of the Lion King’ and it was absolutely magical for me. I absolutely loved the energy coming from the performers and crew members. I feel like Disney just has that affect on people. There is something about it that just makes you feel new and young and carefree again. The travel show does not have all of the elements as the one set in Disneyland itself, however it does have a great deal of talent. Especially the tumble monkey’s that were mentioned in this article! I loved working with such wonderful people. I like how Disney incorporates all of these small shows as add ons to the originals. When I saw the original festival of the lion king, the silks and acrobatics amazed me. If I’m not mistaken, they are what originally got me interested in dance and silk dance.
Festival of the Lion King is probably one of my favorite things at Disney’s Animal Kingdom (close second to Expedition Everest roller coaster). The show is chalk full of audition interaction, beautiful technical designs (scenic, lighting, costumes, sound, etc.) and incredible performers. Every time I have gone to a performance it is always really awesome to see the little kid in the front row’s face light up when the puppets come out the first time or when the tumble monkeys do their first routine. In generally acrobatics can be very dangerous and very straining on the body. I have a lot of respect for the tumble monkeys for being able to do the shear number of performances they have to do in any given week and keep what they are doing safe and still entertaining. I highly recommend that you go see the Festival of the Lion King next time you are at Disney’s Animal Kingdom because you won’t be upset.
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