Lion King Musical Tickets – Tour Dates 2024, News, Cast & Resources

Archive for April, 2011

The Lion King music and lyrics by Elton John and Tim Rice, with additional material by Lebo M, Mark Mancina, Jay Rifkin, Julie Taymor and Hans Zimmer, book by Roger Allers and Irene Mecchi, directed by Taymor (Mirvish) is currently running at the Princess of Wales (300 King West, Toronot ON) Runs till June 12, 2011.

A bit of luster has come off the crown of The Lion King, which was one of the boldest, most visually inventive musicals in its day. This is the touring version of the Disney musical and not the resident production that roared at the Princess of Wales for several years in the early 2000s. So a few of director/designer Julie Taymor’s jaw-dropping stage effects have been scaled down.

But the sets and costumes continue to be the show’s chief draw, from the famous opening number onwards, as carefully designed puppet monkeys, birds and even a big ol’ lumbering elephant come down the theatre aisles, all to the rousing strains of Brenda Mhlongo’s baboon Rafiki and the hall-filling chorus.

The original songs themselves and the pacing in the long first act, however, are tougher to sit through. The story – about young cub Simba’s reclaiming of his birth right after the death of his father Mufasa – remains the same. There’s still lots of mythic weight in that journey about letting go of childish things and fulfilling one’s responsibilities.

Buy Lion King Toronto ON Tickets Online – Use Code AFF$10 to Get $10 OFF on Lion King Princess of Wales Theater Ticket Orders over $350!

It takes a stampede of dedicated cast and crew members to make the 230 puppets in The Lion King come to life. The play, which stomped back to Toronto on April 19 for the first time since its four-year stay in the city ended in 2004, requires actors to train with their intricate animal puppets for months.

Lion King Puppet Supervisor – Toronto-raised Michael Reilly oversees the roughly 230 puppets in the acclaimed stage production, which made a triumphant return to Toronto, ON last week.

“Every puppet has, you know, 50 parts to it,” says Michael Reilly, the show’s puppet supervisor. He works with two assistants to paint, fix and rebuild every puppet and mask that goes onstage in this musical adaptation of Disney’s hit 1994 film. “We have to be a jack of all trades,” says the native Torontonian, who deals with artistic, structural and electronic elements and has been involved with the production for nine years.

Whether they’re tiny repairs or enormous ones, Reilly ensures every puppet is ready to hit the stage. “Zazu, our bird, has tiny, tiny little controls inside of his head because he has a lot of moving parts, and I don’t have very small hands so it’s very difficult for me to get in there,” Reilly says.

In one of the biggest repairs he’s ever done, Reilly “once had to put an elephant on my back and hold it up while I fixed its front legs.” Four actors usually carry the 120-pound puppet pachyderm, whose backstage name is Bertha.

Although most of the delicate puppets are lightweight, using them requires all kinds of physical training.

The Lion King runs at the Princess of Wales Theatre until June 12. Buy Lion King Toronto, ON Tickets Online – Use Code AFF$10 to Get $10 OFF on Ticket Orders over $350!

Lion King Broadway grossed $1,911,078 for the week ending April 24, 2011, Top 1 in the millioners club the Easter week with an increase of $291,502 over the last week. Lion King Broadway Grabs the Top Seat Again. Lion King had Lion King had 100% attendance rate. The total 38 broadway shows grossed $28,847,803, with 22% climb from the previous week’s gross.

Below are the Top 10 Grosses for the Easter week ending April 24, 2011.

1. The Lion King – (MINSKOFF) $1,911,078
2. Wicked – (GERSHWIN) $1,843,855
3. Mary Poppins – (NEW AMSTERDAM) $1,452,298
4. American Idiot – (ST. JAMES) $1,355,740
5. The Phantom of the Opera – (MAJESTIC) $1,325,964
6. The Addams Family – (LUNT-FONTANNE) $1,187,771
7. Mamma Mia! – (WINTER GARDEN) $1,167,769
8. Jersey Boys – (AUGUST WILSON) $1,166,314
9. How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying – (AL HIRSCHFELD) $1,150,953
10. Billy Elliot: The Musical – (IMPERIAL) $1,146,401

{Via BroadwayWorld.com}

The four-week run of “The Lion King” had an estimated $10 million impact on the Rochester area, the New York City-based trade organization the Broadway League estimated.

The production, presented by the Rochester Broadway Theatre League, drew more than 70,000 patrons throughout its four-week run. The cast and crew alone filled 2,800 room nights at local hotels and the show employed more than 70 local union workers each night throughout the 32 performances, RBTL officials said.

“We are pleased to have been able to bring this incredible production back to Rochester,” said Donald Jeffries, RBTL president and CEO.

The cast of the production had an impact beyond the stage, RBTL officials said. Case members participated in acting and technical master classes and the RBTL designed curriculum for middle school students based on the play.

From here Lion King Tour moved to Princess of Wales Theater, Toronto ON.
{Via Rochester Business Journal}

The Toronto return of Disney’s Lion King opens tonight, Wednesday April 20 at 7:30pm at the Princess of Wales theatre for a limited engagement of 8 weeks through Sunday June 12, 2011.

The Lion King Toronto Performances:
Tuesday through Saturday evenings 7:30pm
Saturday matinees at 2pm
Sundays at 1pm and 6:30pm
Also 2pm Wednesday matinees on April 20, May 18, May 25, June 1 and June 8
No performances on Tuesday, May 24 and Tuesday, May 31

Lion King Princess of Wales theatre Tickets are still available online. “Thus far sales have exceeded our expectations, but there are still great seats available” said Jack Eldon, Vice President, Domestic, Disney Theatrical Productions.”

The Lion King began as a 1994 animated feature-length film developed and produced by the Walt Disney Company. The story, a coming of age parable set among animals indigenous to its setting, the African savanna, tells the tale of Simba, the lion cub who rises to be the King of the jungle. The North American touring production of The Lion King has been seen by over 13.2 million theatergoers and grossed over $867 million to date.

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Britney Spears took her two boys to see a Las Vegas show, The Lion King. Britney Spears took a break from promoting her seventh album, “Femme Fatale,” to take in a performance of Disney’s “The Lion King” with her two sons in Las Vegas.

Britney took the boys to see The Lion King at Mandalay Bay on Sunday. Check out the pics of Britney and her two boys, Sean Preston, 5, and Jayden James, 4 at The Lion King – too cute! Spears and her two young boys are pictured with some of the cast of The Lion King: Kissy Simmons (Nala), Niles Rivers (Simba), Derrick Williams (Mufasa) and Ntsepa Pitjeng (Rafiki).

Lion King is a Standing Productions In Las Vegas Nevada – Mandalay Bay Theatre. Buy Lion King Mandalay Bay Theatre Tickets Online.