{"id":15791,"date":"2024-05-10T13:24:11","date_gmt":"2024-05-10T17:24:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ticketclub.live\/?p=15791"},"modified":"2024-05-10T13:24:11","modified_gmt":"2024-05-10T17:24:11","slug":"20-things-you-didnt-know-about-the-lion-king","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/blog\/20-things-you-didnt-know-about-the-lion-king\/","title":{"rendered":"20 Things You Didn’t Know About The Lion King"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s been 20 years since Disney’s The Lion King<\/a><\/em> made its stage debut, making it one of the longest-running shows on Broadway and a global theatrical phenomenon. In honor of the musical’s milestone anniversary, here’s 20 facts you didn’t know about the production.\u00a0<\/p>\n

1.<\/strong> Throughout its 20-year run, there have been over 8,000 performances given.
\n2.<\/strong> The Lion King<\/em> is one currently the third longest-running show on Broadway, following The Phantom of the Opera<\/a><\/em> and Chicago<\/a>.<\/em>
\n3.<\/strong> As of 2014, The Lion King<\/em> has been the highest-grossing Broadway production with over $1 billion in ticket sales, surpassing The Phantom of the Opera<\/em>.
\n4.<\/strong> It may be the most successful of Disney’s theatrical productions, but it was not the first. Beauty and the Beast<\/em> opened on Broadway three years earlier, and stage adaptations of The Little Mermaid, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Aladdin<\/a>, Tarzan<\/em> and Frozen<\/a><\/em> have since been made.
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\n5.<\/strong>\u00a0The Lion King<\/em> won six Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Choreography and Best Costume Design.
\n6.<\/strong> The costumes are noted for their intricacy and detail, like the cast’s corsets, each of which takes two days to hand-bead.<\/p>\n

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Corsets worn by The Lion King<\/em> cast.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

7.<\/strong> The mask worn by Simba<\/a> takes roughly 34 hours to make.
\n8.<\/strong> It is hand painted to look like it’s made of natural wood, though it is really made out of carbon fiber, a lightweight yet sturdy material.
\n9.<\/strong> The mask weighs the same amount as football.
\n10.<\/strong> Simba’s mane is made up of horse hair and hand-cut leather, whereas Mufasa’s mane<\/a> is made from peacock feathers, mahogany and balsa wood.<\/p>\n

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Simba’s mask.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

11.<\/strong> Building all of the production’s costumes and puppets took the creative team over 37,000 hours.
\n12.<\/strong> The most traditional puppet in the show is hornbill Zazu, who is operated using three controls: one for the mouth, eyes, and wings, respectively.
\n13.<\/strong> Zazu’s distinctive neck is actually built using a slinky.
\n14.<\/strong> Each of his feathers are hand-cut and carefully applied to the puppet.
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15.<\/strong> The Lion King<\/em> was the second Disney project for Samuel E. Wright, who originated the role of Mufasa on Broadway. Wright famously provided the voice of Sebastian in 1989’s The Little Mermaid<\/em>.
\n16.<\/strong> There are\u00a0<\/strong>over 230 puppets used in the show, including traditionally operated rod puppets, shadow puppets and full-sized ones. The majority of these can be seen in the dazzling “Circle of Life” opening number.
\n17.<\/strong>\u00a0Arguably the hardest role to portray is that of a giraffe. It takes cast members six weeks to learn how walk on the costume’s stilts.<\/p>\n