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The Lion King Research Paper

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There are just too many musicals to pick from and they each have or had their own way of affecting/changing Broadway. In my opinion, a musical that not only changed what was on stage, but what was outside as well opened on November 13, 1997. The Lion King, still running today on Broadway and on many stages around the world. It laid down the groundwork for the blockbuster era that defines the New Your Theater Industry today. It was the start of the New Broadway. The Lion King a classic Disney tale that everyone is familiar with, was directed by Julie Taymour and opened at the New Amsterdam Theater. The show opens with a procession of life sized animal puppets, some actors on stilts, some on all fours. This opening not only changed theatregoers, …show more content…

As told before Julie Taymour was the director for the original Broadway show. Taymour was pulling from centuries-old presentational styles from around the globe, her fusion of African rhythms, movements and masks with western popular music in the telling of this well-known Disney tale was very new to mainstream Broadway goers. It was an automatic hit. An Associate Director of Taymour’s, John Stefaniuk said “She has taken all of these aspects of storytelling from Arica, Asia, the Philippines and all these other parts of the world she has traveled upon, and she incorporated them in a new way.” Since The Lion King was already a popular movie it was important to make sure the musical was different in its own ways so it would succeed. “If Julie opened the door to anything, it was allowing an artist to tell a story not just the way somebody had told it before, but to really push the envelope as to how they can tell a story through their own kaleidoscope” Stefaniuk says. The musical incorporated several changes and additions. Like Rafiki’s gender was changed from male to female because Taymour believed that there weren’t enough female leading characters. Several new scenes were added to add more characterization for Mufasa and Nala. They added more songs just like it’s not so successful predecessor Beauty and the Beast Musical. What caught the attention of theatregoer’s eyes that made it such a turning point was how they made the animals come alive. Many of the animals portrayed in the production are actors in costume using extra tools to move their costumes. Characters such as Mufasa and Scar had mechanical headpieces, and other characters such as the hyenas, Zazu, Timon, and Pumbaa, are portrayed by actors in life-sized puppets or costumes. These things were never seen on a Broadway stage before, it captivated the audience and made this a show people wanted to see more than once. African

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