More Lion King Information

Taymor's next hurdle was finding a way to convey the atmosphere of The Lion King in a live theatre. Determined not to tone down the scale of the film, she wanted to bring to the stage such vast and sweeping elements as the rolling African Savannah and the famous wildebeest stampede in which Mufasa is killed by his brother Scar. She succeeded in reproducing these grand effects through the use of ingenious impressionistic staging techniques. For the wildebeest scene, she created a false perspective of great distance by placing five earth-colored portals one behind the other. She then used a canvas scroll and a series of large rollers to create the illusion of thousands of racing animals. The effect in the theatre is electrifying as thousands of wildebeests seem to be rushing straight at Simba -- and at the audience!

The animated film on which the musical is based included five songs by composer Elton John and lyricist Tim Rice including such hits as "The Circle of Life," "Can You Feel the Love Tonight," and "Hakuna Matata." In addition, the duo wrote three new songs for the musical: Zazu's "The Morning Report," the hyenas' "Chow Down," and "The Madness of King Scar" in which the musical style mutates along with the escalating schizophrenia of Scar. However, the stage version still needed more songs to fully explore Simba's journey, so the creative team turned to The Rhythm of the Pride Lands, a recording inspired by the film featuring songs by South African songwriter Lebo M, Mark Mancina, Jay Rifkin and Hans Zimmer.