Debra Li

debra_lidan@163.com

OVER 100 million people worldwide have witnessed the phenomenon of Disney’s musical “The Lion King,” which toured to Shanghai once in 2006 and had a Chinese version playing for about 16 months in 2016 and 2017 at Walt Disney Grand Theater in Shanghai. Now the show arrives again to meet vast Chinese audiences.

The current international tour, which premiered in Manila in March last year, will land at Qintai Grand Theater in Wuhan, Hubei Province in Central China on Feb. 19, playing 71 shows before moving to Beijing. Then, starting May 6, the show will play at Beijing’s Poly Theater until August. There will be a total of more than 200 performances in the two cities.

Produced by Australia’s Michael Cassel Group in association with Disney Theatrical Productions and Beijing-based Sevenages, the 25th global production of Broadway’s award-winning musical will be performed in English with Chinese subtitles.

Priced at 168-898 yuan (US$24-128) on workdays and 199-1,009 yuan on holidays and weekends, tickets for the shows in Wuhan are even lower than those for previous shows in Shanghai.

The original Broadway show, officially opening in November 1997, was based on the 1994 Warner Bros. and Paramount Pictures’ animated feature film of the same title with music by Elton John, lyrics by Tim Rice and book by Roger Allers and Irene Mecchi, along with additional music and lyrics by Lebo M., Mark Mancina, Jay Rifkin, Julie Taymor and Hans Zimmer. Directed by Taymor, the musical features actors in animal costumes as well as giant hollow puppets.

The show’s sound is a fusion of Western pop music and the distinctive sounds and rhythms of Africa, the best known numbers perhaps being the Oscar-winning “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” and the haunting ballad “Shadowland.”

The show opened in the West End’s Lyceum Theater in October 1999 and is still running after more than 7,500 performances.

Winning six Tony Awards in 1998, the musical has been translated into eight other languages, and its worldwide gross exceeds that of any film, Broadway show or other entertainment title in box office history, grossing nearly US$8.1 billion as of 2017.

“It will take about two weeks to get the stage set ready for the show,” said Wang Wenping, general manager of Qintai Grand Theater during a news briefing Friday in town. More than 200 puppets representing 25 species of animals will appear on the stage, operated by some 60 actors and actresses.

The theater has to make alterations to its internal structure specially for the show.

“The production team has also added some uniquely Asian cultural elements into the show, so that the Chinese audiences can better relate to it,” he said.

“Hopefully, this cooperation with Disney will be a good start, as we look forward to introducing more recent shows, like ‘Frozen,’ into China.”

Packages of show tickets with high-speed train tickets from Shenzhen and Guangzhou to Wuhan are available at online tour agent Ctrip.

For more information, check https://whqtdjy.polyt.cn.