July 11, 2007
By Millicent Kgowedi
THE Lion King's roar will be heard in Joburg for a few weeks longer - the musical will now run until Sunday, 7 October. It was originally scheduled to end on 9 September.
"There is a huge demand for tickets and we realised that so many people still wanted to see the show," the shows publicist Bridget van Oerle said, explaining the reasoning behind extending the run.
Van Oerle added that by the end of September, it was expected that many people would still be queuing for tickets to the musical.
Since its debut in 1997, over 35 million people around the world have seen the show. It had its local debut on 23 May at the brand-new, purpose-built theatre, The Teatro, at Montecasino in Fourways, where it has been playing to packed houses.
"Telkom bought 40 000 tickets to give to underprivileged learners and residents in the townships around Johannesburg," said the show's publicist, van Oerle.
The Teatro was specifically built for the production as there is no theatre in the country big enough to house the spectacular show. The cast consists of 53 performers, with a technical crew of 70. Linda Dlamini and Hlengiwe Maseko play the young Simba and young Nala, while Andile Gumbi and Tsholofelo Monedi play the older Simba and Nala, the lead characters.
Sello Maake-kaNcube plays Mufasa, Buyisile Zama plays Queen Rafiki, Mark Rayment plays Scar, and Lyall Ramsden, Peter Mashigo and Pierre van Heerden play Zazu the hornbill, Timon the meerkat, and Pumbaa the warthog, respectively. Candida Mosoma, Simon Gwala and Michael Bagg play the three hyenas Shenzi, Banzai and Ed, respectively.
Technical devices that are used on the stage include ropes, hand puppets, aerial dancers, shadows and inflatable set pieces.
Julie Taymor, the director, also contributed to designing the costumes, costing a cool R15-million, to enable the actors to step into their animal characters easily.
She told visitors on the first day of rehearsals that the last thing she wanted to do when designing the costumes was to hide the human aspect of the characters, shown in their facial expressions – hence the masks reveal their faces.
Bringing the show, now in its 10th year, to South Africa has been the dream of composer, singer, Grammy and Sama award winner Lebo M, who performed and composed songs for the first production on Broadway in 1997. Many of the songs were based on Lebo M's album, Rhythm of the Pride Lands, which was inspired by the Disney-animated film.
Lebo M worked with theatre impresario Pieter Toerien to bring The Lion King to South Africa.
The Lion King is on at The Teatro at Montecasino in Fourways until 7 October. Tickets cost from R150 to R425, and are available at Computicket outlets, on 083 915 8000 or online on the Computicket website.
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