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Puppetry plays an extensive role in bringing to life Disney’s The Lion King on stage. There are primarily two kinds of puppetry used in The Lion King. Bunraku Puppetry from Japan, and shadow puppetry from Indonesia.
Bunraku, or Japanese puppet theater, is probably the most developed form of puppetry in the world. The puppets are large - usually about [...]
Julie Taymor, director and designer of the Broadway production of The Lion King, gives the following account of casting procedure and rehearsals for that production.
OPENING NIGHT
We were ready to open. That’s a rare statement for me. This was the first time I truly felt that, even if every little detail wasn’t perfect, the company, the [...]
Julie Taymor, director and designer of the Broadway production of The Lion King, gives the following account of casting procedure and rehearsals for that production.
PREVIEWS
Two days later our first audience had taken their seats in high anticipation. By this time our whole crew, including producers and performers were a little frazzled, exhausted, and not quite [...]
Disney’s The Lion King will be arriving in San Diego very soon (October 13-November 8)! I’m sure many of you are as excited about attending as I am. In preparation I’ve been doing a lot of reading up on African Theatre. Below is a great excerpt on the conventions of traditional African Theatre. When attending The Lion King try to observe [...]
Julie Taymor, director and designer of the Broadway production of The Lion King, gives the following account of casting procedure and rehearsals for that production.
TECHNICAL REHEARSALS
With a host of computers sitting on large boards spread out over the seats, and headsets to communicate backstage, we were able to begin tracking the cues. While I, the [...]
In my earlier blog “Common Ground for Uncommon Cultures,” I discussed several ways we use masks in our every day lives and the many functions masks play. As masks play such a pivotal role in our upcoming presentation of Disney’s The Lion King, I’d like to elaborate a bit on this subject with a focus [...]
Disney’s The Lion King, quite deservingly, is praised for its incredible artistic value. Director Julie Taymor crosses ethnic and historical boundaries mixing Indonesian Puppetry styles with African storytelling and shamanistic theatre traditions to allow seemingly opposing worlds to interact. The grand wilds of African landscape have been brought into a “controllable” theatrical environment that can [...]
Julie Taymor, director and designer of the Broadway production of The Lion King, gives the following account of casting procedure and rehearsals for the production.
CHOREOGRAPHY
Prior to rehearsals Garth and I had laid out when dance would serve as the main event of a scene, or in a musical number, and at what points I [...]
Julie Taymor, director and designer of the Broadway production of The Lion King, gives the following account of casting procedure and rehearsals for that production.
PRINCIPAL REHEARSALS
During the first rehearsal days I worked improvisation ally with the principal actors. We would move back and forth between reading and analyzing the text and getting up on our [...]
When you were growing up, did you ever compare your dad to any of the fathers from your favorite sitcoms? I think most of us have wondered what it would be like to grow up with a dad like Mike Brady or Dr. Huckstable. For me, it was Danny Tanner from “Full House.” (Ick, can [...]