Theatre
The Lion King: West End musical by numbers
The Lion King is well into its 16th successful year at London’s Lyceum Theatre and it shows no sign of losing momentum.
With nine productions currently taking place across the world, the Julie Taymor and Michael Curry production continues to be the talk of the West End.
But what does it take to make The Lion King run so smoothly? Well…
232 puppets. Including rod, shadow and full-sized puppets. Some of the designs are said to be inspired by Japanese Bunraku puppetry.
Over 750 pounds of silicone rubber. Mufasa’s mask weighs 11 ounces and Scar’s mask is seven ounces, while Sarabi’s mask comes in at four ounces.
The elephant is the largest and longest animal in the show, measuring a massive 13 feet in length and nine feet wide.
18-foot exotic giraffes. Two actors trained in stilt-walking, climb six-foot ladders to fit inside the puppets, making them the tallest animals in the show.
At five inches, the trick mouse is the smallest animal to grace the stage.
There are six indigenous African languages spoken throughout the production; Swahili, Zulu, Xhosa (the click language), Sotho, Tswana, Congolese.
There are 37 performers in the London production of The Lion King.
The show has been seen by over 75 million people around the world.
152 people work behind-the-scenes to prepare the show for each performance.
You can now get tickets for The Lion King, with no added booking fees, for performances up until 14 June. Head to Ticketmaster.co.uk for full details.
