Only three years after appearing in movie theaters,
The Lion King was adapted for the stage and first appeared on
Broadway at the New Amsterdam Theater in 1997, becoming an instant
success. Now 15 years later, the musical is still going strong with
productions around the world, national tours in the US and UK, and
is the winner of the 1998 Tony Award for Best Musical, among many
other awards. To help celebrate their 15th anniversary,
an exhibit was set up just minutes away from the theater that shows
why the show has been a great success. A couple weeks ago I was
fortunate enough to see the show for the first time, as well as the
exhibit.

Since The Lion King takes place in Africa, many of
the costumes, as well as the choreography, were designed with the
African culture in mind, with the actors wearing traditional
garments from a real character related to their own. My favorite
thing about the masks worn by the actors who played Mufasa and Scar
is that when they face the audience, the mask appears above their
head so you can still see their facial expressions, however, when
they turn to the side, the mask slides down and appears to cover
their face.
Rafiki's costume is influenced by an African healer
and would not be complete without the stick. The idea behind the
costume was to start out as a human at the head and slowly
transition to an ape like creature at the feet. I was a bit taken
back by the idea that Rafiki was a woman in the stage adaptation,
but some of her vocals were incredible, with most being in Swahili.

Zazu's costume is very unique in the sense that it
is an actor holding a puppet, rather than an actor in a costume (Timon
is also a puppet but attached to the actor, whose bodies move
together). Since Zazu can be considered as Mufasa's 'butler' the
inspiration behind the actor's costume was an English Gentleman in
suit.

Aside from the costumes, there was extraordinary
talent on stage and behind the scenes. Some of the actors had come
from productions of The Lion King in other countries, while others
are native to Africa. There were additional songs added in that were
not in the movie, that I truly enjoyed, even an expansion to 'Be
Prepared' with a rock/hip hop feel that featured dancing hyenas.
Even with the additional musical numbers, the stage adaptation plays
a great homage to the film. The creativity behind the sets and
costumes, combined with the talented actors and great story make The
Lion King on Broadway special enough to be the fifth longest running
Broadway show in history. Congratulations on 15 years, and let's hop
there's another 15 more!