As audiences get ready to return to Broadway theaters, the performers are getting ready as well as seen in this video of the first rehearsal of The Lion King ahead of their Broadway return on September 14th.
What’s Happening:
- Disney on Broadway has shared a video of director Julie Taymor as she addresses the cast of The Lion King on Broadway sharing the power of theater and what it does to audiences.
- Led by Tshidi Manye, the cast then launches into a rendition of “Circle of Life,” rehearsing the powerful song for the first time since March of 2020.
- The video shows the passion and the emotion of everyone involved as the award-winning musical gets ready to return to Broadway on September 14th.
- Taymor, Manye, and the cast and crew involved sing the song with such passion, the emotion-packed performance and reception didn’t leave a dry eye in the house, and likely not for anyone watching the video either.
- The Lion King, a musical based on the film of the same name with music and lyrics by Elton John and Tim Rice, as well as Lebo M and a score by Hans Zimmer, originally premiered in 1997 in the New Amsterdam Theater on Broadway, later moving the Minskoff Theatre in 2006 where it will be performed once again starting on September 14th.
- Since then, it has become the third longest running Broadway show, with 25 productions around the world, and has won over 70 major theatrical awards internationally.
- Most shows on Broadway, including The Lion King, stopped performances due to the COVID-19 pandemic in March of 2020, with the return of the show on September 14th being the first public performance of the show since then.