Playbill: Following Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera and the Tony-winning revival of Chicago, Disney's The Lion King will become the third production in Broadway history to celebrate its 25th anniversary on the Main Stem in November. Details about celebratory events will be announced at a later date.
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I really have to see Lion King again - I haven’t seen it since I was like 6. The crazy thing is, the Minskoff is sold out basically every night. I’ve wondered why every now and then. Why is Lion King so untouchable, when other wonderful Disney shows (Beauty and the Beast, Mary Poppins, The Little Mermaid), which include fellow Disney renaissance movies, have closed? Is it because The Lion King is a visual must see? Because that’s certainly true. The fact that one woman directed and costumed this show is wild - it’s a beast (pun intended). The shining point of the show is obviously the puppets and the masks. I haven’t seen anything on Broadway like it since. What I think is so interesting about the aesthetic of the Lion King is that they don’t try to hide the fact that they’re using puppets. The show is unapologetically showing humans portraying animals through vessels. I’ve seen behind the scenes of the show where the actors talk about how we just get used to looking at the puppets as the characters, as opposed to the humans controlling them, and that the actors are very intentional where they look at their scene partner. They look in the puppet’s eyes - not the actor’s.
I think it is crazy that Lion King has been on Broadway for 25 years. After seeing Phantom close I was worried they were going to start closing a lot more shows that have running for a long time. I assume that Lion King will always be under Disney protection so I do think it will take another big Disney show for the show to close. It is also crazy to me that only 3 shows have hit the 25 year mark but broadway does have a limited audience base for shows that aren't iconic like Phantom and Lion King. Lion King moved the industry forward in many ways and paved the way for many designers. The first woman to ever win a costume design award designed for this show. It is also wonderful that such a diverse show can maintain successful after all these years. I am hoping that one day there can be another show that puts people of color in the forefront as successful as Lion King and the people that made Lion King successful share their knowledge with the rest of the industry.
It's hard to believe that The Lion King has been running for as long as it has. Honestly, I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, I feel that at some point shows outlive their time. I believe that theater is meant to be experienced and then moved on from. I don't think any one piece should last forever. I also think that The Lion King is a prime example of commercialization of theater and isn't art for art's sake. However, this isn't necessarily bad. It is a beautiful work and still does have a lot of art in it. Also, its heavy commercialization brings a lot of money into Broadway, money without which Broadway may be hard pressed to survive. Broadway relies heavily on tourists and this show definitely attracts them. Because popular, long-standing shows like this one bring in so many tourists, many artists are able to hold steady jobs and many smaller, more exploratory pieces can also survive.
The Lion King which opened in 1997 at the New Amsterdam Theater is now 25 years old. This show has been a staple on Broadway through my childhood and more importantly a staple of Broadway for a quarter of a decade. This Lion King has been a crucial part of Broadway history and so mony of the original artists are still involved with the production to this day. Disney has also taken the show on the road. Lion King has been a part of over a dozen tours visiting dozens of cities and countries. Lion King also won 6 tonys as well as several other awards. This show has been a crucial part of so many theatermakes past and present as well as the industry as a whole bringing a well known story to life in a relatable and kid friendly way. The Lion King will go down in history as a show that shaped both Broadway and theater as a whole.
Theo
4. For Stage Management Seminar this year we have been reading Song of the Spiderman. Julie Taymor of The Lion King was supposed to direct and write Song of the Spiderman. From what I am reading, she is less than pleasant to work with. Although I find the narrator, Glen Berger to also be pretty awful and I don’t necessarily trust his characterization of her. After 25 years, I think it is also worth examining how The Lion King is not perfect. I think part of why it is so visually stunning to the public is because of our lack of exposure to other cultures. The production team tries to mimic what the classic image of African dance is, but the research done and the efforts to bring in actual experts is, in my opinion, minimal and unsatisfactory. Yes, I am glad the show did what it did for black performers, for puppetry, and for dance, but I still think it has a lot of problems that are rarely talked about. The ideas that inform this show are directly tied to colonialism and I just wish there was more care taken to get the right voices in positions of leadership in producing this show.
It’s so crazy to me how long The Lion King has been running for. And at least as of now, it seems like it still has a pretty long time to go. Although I have never actually seen the show live, I've seen clips of both the actual production on Broadway as well as productions done by local organizations around me. I definitely understand why the show has been running as long as it has been. Although I believe it’s important that we progress as an industry to add new works onto broadway and make sure that things are constantly growing and changing, I think for something as timeless as The Lion King, it might be okay that it’s been around for as long as it has, as it’s shaped so many other pieces of work shown. It’s something so many people have been able to enjoy, regardless of age or experience watching theater, and it doesn’t seem like people will stop enjoying it anytime soon.
For some reason Lion King has always felt like a very early 2000s movie to me rather than an early 1990s movie which is why this headline caught me by such surprise. On one hand, I had no idea Lion King had been open on Broadway longer than I have been alive. On the other hand, I know that I SAW Lion King on Broadway when I was 2 years old and cried so hard during the opening that I had to leave the theater. I also cannot believe that it is only one of three shows to hit this milestone. The more I think about that, the more it makes sense though. It is expensive to keep a show alive if the seats are not filling up every night like they once were. At some point, like I have learned from reading about Spider Man: Turn Off The Dark, it becomes a money pit that is unsaveable.
The Lion King is a spectacle show for a quarter of a century which is insane. While admirable I do think it will close within the next decade. Not because it’s bad or anything but it’s fan base will age out and I honestly don’t think many current generations are watching the animated Lion King or being impressed by the shifty live actions to draw in enough future generations for the name brand itself. I do love the puppetry in the show it’s hands down my favorite part of the show. From a narrative standpoint in relation to the original animated movie I do think it’s time will run out because it’s one of Disneys only movies set vaguely in Africa based not on a story related to it’s location or culture but off a white Shakespeare plot. I love the show but just like Phantom I think it will close sooner than later.
I've never been able to see Lion King on stage before, so it's extremely hard for me to even think about how it's been able to remain on Broadway for literally a quarter of a century. How does any show manage that? Sure, I know Lion King is popular, both the movie and stage adaptation, but it's really still popular enough to warrant its continuation on stage? Clearly, it must be, and clearly, it must still be generating a large amount of revenue for those involved, or they certainly would have already moved to end its run. Even beyond this though, the fact that it has been on Broadway for 25 years is just astounding. I mean, that's older than a lot of us here! It's continued, unabated, for longer than I have even been alive. Sure, I'm sure it's changed a bit here and there, as all theatre does, but it remains a staple of the Broadway scene long after its debut, and I'm sure the publicity and press around this huge milestone will help refresh interest and bring a whole new life to the show, ensuring that it'll continue for a while longer yet.
Lion king was a story all of us grew up with. For many of us we have seen the movie hundreds of times. I saw the musical on my first trip to New York City. I think is was seven or eight and the only show I had seen before that was the touring production of Mamma Mia (ABBA for the win!!!). This was my first show seen on broadway and man did I love it. My poor parents had to deal with me and my little sister refusing to sing any thing else for the rest of that trip but more importantly the 14 hour drive home. It is crazy to me that this show has been on for twenty five years. Although it is apart of the Disney broadway take over it is still and amazing show that I hope many kids get to see well into the future.
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