The Lion King - Broadway vs. Tour Production

[kyl3fong2]

Posted: 12/29/12 at 3:14am

I saw The Lion King tonight here in San Francisco, and was wondering if anybody knows what are some of the differences from the Broadway production versus the Touring show?

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 12/29/12 at 3:17am

Pride Rock revolves out of the floor on Broadway. On tour, Pride Rock comes out from the wings.

[DEClarke]

Posted: 12/30/12 at 12:33am

This summer I saw the show for the 3rd time in Houston. Two weeks later, I saw the show for the 1st time in NYC. I found the tour cast was much more energetic and gave better performances.

As far as actual changes... Pride Rock is the most noticeable. The next is that the adjustable upstage rake has been removed from the tour. Also, the Broadway cast is larger, so the parade has more animals at the beginning and "Be Prepared" has more hyenas.

[DEClarke]

Posted: 12/30/12 at 12:34am

Does anyone know why the ariel artists were removed from "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?"

I didn't see them in the latest tour or on Broadway this past summer.

[JohnyBroadway]

Posted: 12/30/12 at 12:46am

I always found them random to the piece, and somewhat dragging to the song.

The tour has down sized over the years. when I first saw the national tour in 2005 the raked platform was still in use. Move up 5 years later and the platform had been cut from the tour. While I enjoyed both visits to the show, there was something more magnificent about the show as a whole in 2005 than there was in 2010.

[DEClarke]

Posted: 12/30/12 at 12:59am

The ariel artists were random, but I found them interesting and beautiful. So much so that I forgot to watch Nala and Simba (maybe that's why they were cut).

The cast on the tour this summer was phenomenal. They were the best cast I had seen in the show yet. When it first came to Houston, I flipped for Fredi Walker as Rafiki, but Buyi Zama was simply mind-blowing in that role. Then Nokubonga Khuzwayo as adult Nala was was revelation. Then J. Anthony Crane's Scar, Mark David Kaplan's Zazu (which made me miss "The Morning Report"), Nick Cordileone's Timon, and Ben Lipitz's Pumbaa were fantastic too. Basically, there was a bad member in this cast. They all did superb jobs. The show really gelled and was profoundly moving the 3rd time I saw it.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 12/30/12 at 12:59am

That's odd that they would cut the upstage rake, since I would assume they are still traveling with the same show decks. I wonder if something has gone wrong with the hydraulics and Disney is just refusing to fix it to save some money (as they did with the animatronic puppet that used to pop up from the deck to let Mufasa know about the wildebeest stampede).

[DEClarke]

Posted: 12/30/12 at 1:03am

AEA, they cut down the number of trucks carrying the show on tour, so I think they're saving space by cutting the hydraulics?

[Justin D]

Posted: 12/30/12 at 9:56am

I think too the only other slight difference might have been the things that the bugs come on in during 'hakunna' but that may have been standardized when the show moved from the New Amsterdam.

Personally I can;t imagine the show with out the rake. I even remember an interview with the designer where he said without the rake (because sometimes early on it just would not work) priderock looks more like an ant hill than a mountain, or something to that effect.

I sort of don;t mind pride rock sliding in, it looks just as nice, except I think for the scene after Mufassa's death when scar had that little be prepared reprise and it takes forever to troddle off.

What is nice though is some of the international productions that have enough sub stage room that when pride rock goes down, it does not have to collapse and therefore when it is up, it is one solid looking unit (I believe NYC and London, it collapses as it goes down.

Sadly the only other difference is I find alot of people in the NYC cast have been there way too long. There are roles with songs i love and well, I have not bothered to go back because the same people have been there in those roles forever.

[Justin D]

Posted: 12/30/12 at 9:59am

BTY, Buyi Zama seems to be the go to rafiki whenever they need someone to open a show, I think out of all the rafikis, she has done more productions, and is quite good on the SA recording