The Marcus Center for the Performing Arts will be presenting Disney’s world famous The Lion King musical opening at the Milwaukee Theatre, on Tuesday night, November 11. The then sold-out show last came to Milwaukee in 2008.
Breaking records earlier this summer for the number one highest earning production in history, the musical is cashing in at about 6.2 billion, which is .2 billion more than the previous top dog The Phantom Of The Opera. To date, the show has earned more than The Lord of the Rings Trilogy combined and even surpassed two of the biggest feature films in history combined, Avatar and The Titanic.
In its seventeenth year it remains the only show in history to have five productions worldwide running ten or more years. At the shows debut, The New York Times called it “The most memorable, moving and original theatrical extravaganza in years,” and Newsweek today calls it “A landmark event in entertainment.”
The show has an approximate run time of two and a half hours with a twenty minute intermission. With twenty two productions run worldwide, it’s estimated to have been seen by over 70 million people since its Broadway debut in 1997. The world’s #1 musical will run at the Milwaukee Theatre until December 7, plenty of time to embark on a journey to Pride Rock with dozens of painted wild animals through a young lion cubs coming of age story.
Based on the 1994 Disney animated film of the same name, the musical received no less than eight 1998 Tony Awards including best musical and best costume design. From the opening song “Circle of Life” this gripping tale carries us through the struggles of Simba the lion cub, forced from his home, through his journey to accepting responsibility and eventually his destiny as king of Pride Rock.
The show has been translated into eight different languages including; Japanese, German, French, Korean, Dutch, Mandarin, Spanish, and Portuguese. It also includes six different indigenous African languages spoken throughout the course of the show.
Originally directed by Julie Taymor, who has collaborated with artists such as Bono for music in other recent works (Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark), The Lion King includes original music written by Elton John and lyrics by Tim Rice, such as “Can You Feel The Love Tonight,” “Hakuna Matata” and “I Just Can’t Wait To Be King.”
Aside from directing, Taymor also designed the costumes’ with their particular style for the original production. It is still upheld today. She coined the concept “double event” for this show, meaning the African style masks the actors don allow the audience to see the actors face and the implied character at the same time. Along with designer Michael Curry, Taymor hand sculpted and painted every prototype mask that appears at the opening of the show during “The Circle of Life”. The costume and set department as a whole spent over 17,000 hours creating the different masks, puppets, and attire of the animals in the original Broadway production.
For tickets, visit the Marcus Center Box Office on North Water Street, call 866-870-2717, or go online at ticketmaster.com/mkelionking.
Photo Credit: Joan Marcus, Brown Lindiwe Mkhize as ‘Rafiki’ in the opening number ‘The Circle of Life’ from THE LION KING National Tour. Copyright: Disney.