HERE ARE 25 THINGS WORTH KNOWING ABOUT DISNEY’S THE LION KING AS THE SMASH HIT MUSICAL CELEBRATES ITS TWENTY-FIFTH YEAR IN LONDON’S WEST END
1 | Since the UK premiere in London on Tuesday 19 October 1999, The Lion King has been seen by more than 19 million theatre-goers and remains the bestselling musical in London.
2 | Taking all the global productions into account, The Lion King has now been seen by more than 114 million people across six continents in 25 productions worldwide. It has played on every continent except Antarctica.
3 | The Lion King is the sixth longest-running West End and third longest-running Broadway musical of all time.
4 | In 1998, The Lion King won six Tony Awards: Best Musical, Best Scenic Design for Richard Hudson, Best Costume Design for Julie Taymor, Best Lighting Design for Donald Holder, Best Choreography for Garth Fagan and Best Direction Of A Musical for Julie Taymor.
5 | Julie Taymor made Broadway history by becoming the first woman to win the Tony Award for Best Director of a Musical.
6 | Just under 17,000 people come through the doors at London’s Lyceum Theatre each week – the theatre seats 2,100 and there are eight shows a week.
7 | It takes approximately 150 people to put on the show each night – 50 on stage, 100 backstage.
8 | The Lion King is a uniquely international company with cast and creatives from 17 countries around the world.
9 | The show’s full creative team, all of whom won Tony Awards for their work on The Lion King (Broadway), reunited in 1999 to recreate the show for the London stage
10 | There are 232 puppets in the show, including rod, shadow and full-sized puppets. Some of these were inspired by Japanese Bunraku puppetry.
11 | There are 25 species of animals, birds, fish and insects represented in the show including 27 kite birds.
12 | It took 37,000 hours to build the original puppets and masks.
13 | During the show, all members of the ensemble portray both flora and fauna.
14 | The largest and longest animal in the show is the Elephant. At 13ft long and 9ft wide, the puppet requires four actors to carefully walk her down the orchestra aisle.
15 | Five African languages are spoken or sung in the show, they are, Sotho, Swahili, Zulu, Tswana and Xhosa
16 | There are more than 350 costumes in the show; including 22 hand-beaded corsets, each consisting of thousands of individually sewn beads.
17 | The Lion King has earned more than 70 major arts awards including the 1998 NY Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical, the 1999 Grammy for Best Musical Show Album, the 1999 Evening Standard Award for Theatrical Event of the Year and the 1999 Olivier Awards for Best Choreography and Best Costume Design.
18 | The show’s director, costume designer and mask co-designer Julie Taymor continues to play an integral part in the show’s ongoing success and in recent years has supervised new productions of the show around the world.
19 | The score features Elton John and Tim Rice’s songs from The Lion King animated film along with three new songs by John and Rice, additional musical material by South African Lebo M, Mark Mancina, Jay Rifkin, Julie Taymor and Hans Zimmer, and music from Rhythm of the Pride Lands.
20 | The Lion King has played Scotland three times, each season at the Edinburgh Playhouse. The first ran from 12 October 2013-18 January 2014, the second from 5 December 2019-February 2020, and for a third time from 27 October 2022-11 November 2023.
21 | The show has now been seen by 19 million people and the London production will play its 10,000th performance in February 2025.
22 | The Lion King had a pre-Broadway run in the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in the summer of 1997 before opening on Broadway in the New Amsterdam Theatre the same year.
23 | More than 200 puppets are used in the production, bringing 25 types of animals, birds, fish, and insects to life.
24 | In total, around 50 performers and puppeteers are needed to breathe life into the animals in the show, which include 39 hyenas, 22 wildebeests, 15 gazelles, 14 lionesses, 12 bird, 3 zebras, 6 representations of Simba, as well as numerous other characters.
25| The Swahili phrase, ‘Hakuna Matata’ is said 25 times in every performance it roughly translates to ‘no trouble’ or ‘take it easy’.
Book now to see The Lion King in London here.
In partnership with Disney Theatrical
