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Introduction
Relive the story of the timeless animated Disney classic The Lion King as you never did - in a spectacular full blown stage musical extravaganza with elaborate sets, special effects, ... and a large cast bringing the famous characters alive. Certainly including all the hit-songs ...	Erleben Sie die Geschichte des zeitlosen Disney Zeichentrickklassikers Der König der Löwen wie noch nie - in einem aufwendigen Bühnenmusical mit bombastischen Kulissen, Spezialeffekten, ... und einem großen Ensemble, dass die berühmten Charaktere zum Leben erweckt. Natürlich mit allen Hit-Songs ...

Photos
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May 25th 2004 - the Annual Passport Fantasia holders are treated to an exclusive preview of the biggest and most elaborate show so far presented on any stage of the two theme parks of the Disneyland Resort Paris.

May 26th 2004 - the international press is treated to the official press premiere and normal park guests are allowed to enjoy the preview performances of the show (these will be complete performances but the show may still be tweaked a bit).

July 1st 2004 - finally the official premiere of The Legend of the Lion King. In just 10 month from the first idea to the opening of the curtain for the premiere the Entertainment Department under Vice President of Entertainment Francois Leroux have created a unique show experiencing combining the unique flavor and atmosphere, the story, the characters and the music of the animated Disney masterwork with the art of story telling as already found at the court of Versailles...

The custom in the golden days of Versailles was to tell the story of the king to the king himself to honor him and express the deference of his people - this custom has been transported to the African continent for the all new The Legend of the Lion King show, in which the villagers from the savannah retell the complete legend of the Lion King in the Pride Lands by the means of song and dance. To achieve this feat the villagers transform themselves into the various characters and animals from the legend. The main characters being Scar, the power hungry uncle, Nala, the loyal friend and lover, Rafiki, the wise baboon and certainly Simba himself, the future king to whom the story is told with the guests joining in.

The creative team has gone to length to excel in all areas in ways never before seen in the Disneyland Resort Paris - from the spectacular stage set, to special effects, to costumes, to music and certainly the cast of 30 artists of which 20 will perform in each show. The 30 artists have been casted by Craig Revel Horwood, the Australian choreographer and director of the show, in London and Paris, attracting numerous actors with experience on the important stages of the world. To make the casting even more difficult the show not only calls for the ability to perform natural looking african tribal dances but jazz and other modern dance styles just as well - not to mention that four of artists have to tell the story live through their voices as they perform the songs live in the theater up to five times daily, seven days a week! For this difficult positions the creative team held castings in Paris as well as in London and managed to attract some top notch musical theater performers.
In the role of Simba guests will see alternating Gino Amnes and Roger Wright, who is known as the original Simba from the London West End production of Disney's stage musical The Lion King. His Nala will be alternating Donna Odain and Angela Paul. The two remaining live singing parts are Rafiki, played by Augustus Hope, whose recent West End credits from the London include the US-hit-show Ragtime, and Scar played by Julian Canonie.
The live cast is further supported by what right now looks to be a set of three life-sized Audio-Animatronics of main characters from the movie, which bring the exact shape and movements from the animated feature to the stage.

Craig Revel Horwood has worked in the world of musical theater so far, being responsible for the choreographie and directing of productions of Chess, West Side Story and Miss Saigon in the past. But what created the special challenge here was to retell the complete, world famous story in just 25 minutes without rushing through it or loosing the coherent story arch. To achieve this difficult task he worked closely with the musical director of the Disneyland Resort Paris Vasile Sirli who created an all new score based on the famous songs and score by Elton John, Tim Rice and Hans Zimmer from the animated feature. The soundtrack production consits of four elements: the live performers of the fours singers, the rhythm section, a chorus and the orchestral elements. The rhythm- and chorus-section has been co-produced in Los Angeles, while the orchestral track has been recorded in Los Angeles with a full blown orchestra of 60 performers, by far exceeding the size of orchestras of even the most elaborate productions in the West End or on the Broadway. Certaily the soundtrack incorporates all the famous hit songs but the score also makes havey use of African elements and helps telling the story through dance and acting reducing the need for dialogue to a minimum. A necessity in the resort due to the multi-lingual guests.

The visual side of the show therefore is of special importance - and is set to exceed everything that was ever seen so far in the resort. Especially for the show the complete stage underwent a major refurbishment including the installment of detailed rock work framing now the complete stage, covering even the proscenium. Responsible for this is Bernard Arnould, who is working as set designer for the resort since 1992. But not only the pure scope of the set requested special attention, but also the special effects that had to be included which will add a special magical touch to the show and will create never before seen visuals. Responsible for the effects is a special team under the guidance of Olivier Lecolle who also ordered support from various outside sources, e.g. for the installation of a water curtain that will cover nearly the complete length of the stage. The water curtain, created by a French company specializing in water curtains and effects, will be used as projection screen for pictures and videosequences too, which help moving the story forward at a fast pace. For the more intimidating scenes, e.g. on the Elephants' Graveyard, a smoke curtain will be utilized to create a dark, broody atmosphere. An effect that will be further enhanced by fake fireon the stage, which create unbelievable realistic effects. These fake fires will errupt on several spots all over the stage - but pose no danger neither for guests nor the actors as they actually are "only" water vapor illuminated from behind. A highly sophisticated special effect never before seen on any French stage!

A first glimpse at the atmospheric lighting reveals how it cleverly extends out of the main stage and covers the full rockwork above the main stage and the two side stages to the left and to the right of the audience therefore drawing it into the scene. The lighting is also cleverly adjusted to the projections on the huge screen forming the background of the scenery, which helps transform the atmosphere totally from one moment to another - one second still a clear night in the savannah, the next deep in a lush jungle, with its tropic colors and light colored and broken by the green leaves above... 

The impressive visuals of the sets, lighting and special effects are complimented by the 20 costumes devised by Sue Lecash, who is responsible for the costumes of shows and parades at the resort for several years already. As in this production villagers are supposed to perform the legend and transform themselves for this into the different animals her costumes are heavily based on the African tradition, making use of elements as large headdresses symbolizing the different animals. Taking the ideas as seen in the Disney Broadway stage musical a step further the costumes are supposed to recreate enough characteristica of each animal while also allowing the actors and dancers not only to retain full ability to move and play but also to let the African villager, the human shine through the costume - creating a fusion of human and animal world.

PLEASE NOTE: THIS PREVIEW IS BASED ON OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASES FROM THE RESORT. THE ACTUAL SHOW MAY DIFFER FROM THE EXPERIENCE DESCRIBED HERE