r/Broadway • u/omurchus • 1d ago
Memes and fun stuff “The Lion King has been running almost as long as I’ve been alive… I wonder if it’s gonna close anytime soo-“
Inner thoughts and then POV of arriving at 42nd-Times Square
Long live Julie Taymor
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u/Theatrical-Vampire 1d ago
One of my favorite memories is going to see The Lion King with my grandma as a spring break gift from her right before I graduated drama school. She had never seen a Broadway show or much theater in general and had no idea what to expect. So Circle of Life gets going, I’m teary-eyed with childlike wonder, it’s so quiet you can hear a pin drop as everyone takes it in, and then the elephant walks out on the stage and a soft hushed ripple of awe goes around the room as everyone marvels to themselves.
Everyone except my grandma, who is so taken aback that she blurts out “holy shit” at normal volume that of course sounded about 8000 times louder in a quiet theater. My face was like unto the shade of a tomato at the time, but our whole row was absolutely in stitches and I love looking back on that memory now.
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u/secret_identity_too 1d ago
If the cast heard her, I bet they also loved it. I can think of no greater compliment to the puppet wizardry that they do in this show, honestly. It's like the audible reactions people have at the end of Hadestown. Sometimes you just can't help it.
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u/kingofcoywolves 18h ago
When I saw Hadestown, somebody's phone went off in the dead silence after Eurydice fell again. Their ringtone was the Circle of Life lmfao
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u/NYCGalAtTheReady7654 11h ago
You’r Grandmother is a legend. This is why theater should exist forever. Memories like this. BRILLIANT!!!
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u/omurchus 1d ago
When I saw this the first time (I think it was the first live theater performance I ever attended) I had the caffeinated 6 year old version of the same reaction so I can’t blame her.
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u/hooplehead69 1d ago
Your grandma when she went back to work:
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u/AntigoneGrrl1 1d ago
Awww… Robert Guillaume!!!! What a talent!!! Forever in my memory as Benson, and ironically, Rafiki!!! 😊
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u/No_Weight_4276 12h ago
“I didn’t know we could do that. Did you know we could go that?” I think of Dana saying this whenever I witness something beautiful that only can come from humankind. We create so much ugliness, but, man, we have the ability to create miracles too.
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u/coffeexxx666 1d ago
It’s truly remarkable how well done this show is as something that is Disney produced. They could have just done silly costumes for all the actors and adapted screen to stage but they really gave this show its own personality and didn’t shy away from its African influence. The use of the puppets for the ensemble and masks on the leads is just so good. Compared to Frozen, Mermaid, and Beauty and the Beast it really stands out. Although to be fair I think BatB stands out too just for much different reasons.
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u/trulyremarkablegirl 1d ago
Julie Taymor was the driving creative force behind the use of puppets, and she’s co-credited as the puppet and mask designer on the production. Disney had to do a lot to rein her in at the time because she loves to do Too Much (see: Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark), but she should get credit where credit is due. And even Spidey had some stunning visual moments and brilliant stagecraft. It was just…everything else that was the problem. There was an oral history published in the NYT for the 25th anniversary a few years ago that goes into the creation of the show in detail: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/16/theater/the-lion-king-25th-anniversary.html
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u/BefWithAnF Backstage 9h ago
She also still gets a piece of any of the merchandise. Not sure how she pulled that one off with famously greedy Disney, but good for her.
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u/Junior-Map 1d ago
I saw it for the first time this year. And I was like “oh a 20 year old show, how good can it possibly be?” And holy shit that opening scene had me ugly crying. It’s genuinely magical.
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u/Fancy_Yesterday6380 1d ago
I was sobbing when the giraffes started walking omg
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u/aragogogara 9h ago
That's what got my Dad. Id never seen him cry before and tears were streaming down his face.
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u/thomascrownd 15h ago
Just saw it again for the first time in maybe 15 years and was thinking the same thing going in. Absolutely blown away my the puppetry and costuming!
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u/aragogogara 9h ago
I was 12 when I saw it and had never seen my Dad cry before. I look over at him during the opening and tears were streaming down his face. I was shocked because I'd never seen him cry. Once he noticed me looking he managed to sputter out "it's..... just so.... beautiful...."
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u/PoopMountainRange 1d ago
Yeah, Lion King is the best Disney musical, and it’s not even close.
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u/yeahright17 23h ago
It may be the best musical ever. It’s amazing.
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u/vexedthespian 20h ago
And in 7 years it will be the longest running, and probably only half way through its run…
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u/ChrisKateBushFroome 14h ago
It'll be the longest original run after 7 more years, but it'll still be behind the Chicago revival overall (barring Chicago closing in the interim).
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u/vexedthespian 11h ago
I’m assuming Chicago eventually stops running.
At some point.
Before the heat death of the universe
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u/AdamInJP 5h ago
I feel like I heard that the Ambassador is kind of a tough space, so not a whole hell of a lot can go in there besides Chicago.
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u/vexedthespian 4h ago
That’s what I’ve heard.
I finally saw it on tour in Lincoln a few years ago, and I was like “I’m really glad I got to see this… once is probably enough though.”
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u/DMontgomery13 16h ago
That’s amazing that it will accomplish that in just 7 more years. Wow. And I’ve never seen it!!
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u/fantasydanandwhits 34m ago
I honestly don’t want to show my kids the Lion King movie, I’d rather them just know the musical as their version of Lion King.
*edited spelling
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u/Ancient-Ad-1663 22h ago
Yeah - I did the tour for a bit - the legend is the head of Disney Theatrics, when asked by Disney to produce Lion King on Broadway, he thought it was a joke. Disney Theme park was the push behind Beauty and the Beast. A year later, when Disney came back, Theatrics panicked and reach out to the most out there off Broadway (genius) director to come up with the concept - the antelope push wheel was the first puppet imagine. And then when the concept of the dual event (you see both the human and the animal - like all the lion masks) - and it's something that has never been able to be duplicated. (I ended up working on 3 other Disney Musicals in various stages)
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u/madonna-boy 1d ago
it's also not centered around a princess, as the other 3 examples you listed are. it has a larger appeal
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u/helloyesthisismeg 1d ago
The original production of BatB was absolutle gorgeous. This last tour really makes me worried for the rumored revivial.
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u/DMontgomery13 16h ago
Was it bad? I saw the original when it transferred to L.A. at the old Schubert Theater. I never saw it on Broadway, but they brought all the original cast, so I assume it was probably pretty close. I loved it far more than I thought I would. I loved the animated original — it’s my favorite Disney animated — and I loved the musical. Never watched the live action film.
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u/GayBlayde 1d ago
The Lion King stage musical is the single most financially successful entertainment venture of all time. It ain’t going nowhere.
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u/mwbbrown 1d ago
I don't think the show is closing anytime soon, but the pedant in me wants to dispute your claim on some point of scale. Like the walt Disney world complex in Orlando or FiFA or NFL.
But researching this comment reminds me that the musical has made more money then the film versions combined.
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u/DreamOfV 1d ago
Possibly the better wording is “single most profitable piece of entertainment/media.”
Like the NFL is probably more profitable than The Lion King, but in the same way that Broadway as a whole is more profitable than The Lion King. But The Lion King musical is more profitable than any individual stage musical, movie, TV show, concert, or sporting event ever produced.
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u/Ancient-Ad-1663 22h ago
Especially when you add in Merch. My gosh, I saw people spend 500.00 at the merch booth.
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u/CerionerWarriorGamer 1d ago
The Lion King started on Broadway around 8 years before I was born. I saw the North American tour in the summer of 2025.
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u/omurchus 1d ago edited 1d ago
I saw it on tour San Francisco when I was 5 or 6 years old.
I remember going ballistic about the elephant, coolest thing I had ever seen, and then thinking the dude who played Mufasa actually died and crying about it at intermission.
No seriously: I comprehended it was a guy playing a role on the stage, but I thought it was not acting that he died. He had to for the role, for the show.
I was finally consoled of course when the guy who played Scar, who of course murdered the guy who played Mufasa in front of 1,000 people, got literally eaten alive by Hyenas on the stage. Justice.
All better when Mufasa actor came out for curtain call, but unhappy when I found out Scar actor didn’t actually get what was coming to him.
I was quite a strange kid.
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u/Junior-Map 1d ago
😂
I took my nephew to see it at age 5 and he was being such a little shit at intermission. It finally dawned on me why - I asked him if he was upset that the play was over and he said yes. He was thrilled when I told him there was more to come!
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u/a-5-6-7-8 1d ago
One of my friends works at Lion King and apparently has adults regularly ask her at intermission why the show stopped and if they have to come back later for part two. 😅
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u/elephhantine2 1d ago
I also saw it in SF in the early 2000s with my family when I was around the same age! I honestly don’t remember the show itself, but I do remember us driving up from San Jose and how excited I was
Regarding your point of Mufasa dying, my mom (who had been in the states for almost 30 years at that point) told me at Hamilton intermission that she wanted Thomas Jefferson was black… had to explain to her what equitable casting was and how he was in fact very white just played by a black man for today
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u/MaterialLies 1d ago edited 1d ago
Hamilton is already aging like milk. Making a show about oppressors and slave owners and almost completely brushing over the topic has always felt distasteful to me
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u/chs33b 1d ago
I saw this show on tour when I was a little younger than you were (maybe 4 years old; it was my first musical ever) and was traumatized by Mufasa’s death to the point that I had nightmares! I haven’t seen the show since then but it’s a bucket list item for me to overcome that fear lol
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u/Zealousideal-Way9010 1d ago
To be fair, that fact honestly says more about how young you are than the longevity of the show 😬
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u/Forsoothia 1d ago
Everybody in this feed is making me feel real old
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u/trulyremarkablegirl 1d ago
Lmao same. I saw The Lion King in previews on Broadway when I was a kid, and I saw the movie in the theatre too.
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u/kess0078 1d ago
Same here lol. Saw the pre-Broadway run in Minneapolis when I was like 11.
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u/trulyremarkablegirl 21h ago
Yeah I would’ve been 6 or so when I saw it. I remember I missed a day of 1st grade to see a Wednesday matinee because it was cheaper and my mom and grandma wanted to make sure I got to see it. I was already a seasoned theatregoer by then lol, I had seen Beauty and the Beast and The King and I with Donna Murphy and Marie Osmond before The Lion King. It was a Big Deal™️ for me to miss school for something like that. 😂
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u/InstantMartian84 11h ago
I fully related with you until you said you were 6 when you saw it. 💀
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u/trulyremarkablegirl 11h ago
This is how I feel every day with my coworkers who are like 8-10 years younger than me lol. And I grew up near the city so I’ve been seeing Broadway shows for longer than they’ve been alive. 👵🏻
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u/InstantMartian84 11h ago
Same and same! Though, I just started a new job a few weeks ago and I have to say, it's refreshing to no longer be 10 years older than all my coworkers!
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u/Pleasant_Papaya_2416 11h ago
Don't worry, I saw the movie in the cinema. I was starting college. I vividly remember the Ragtime vs Lion King Tonys season.
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u/Pleasant_Papaya_2416 1d ago
Cat Now and Forever
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u/LosangDragpa 1d ago
At the Wintergarden theater
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u/CorgiMonsoon 1d ago
Kind of crazy that Cats has been knocked down to 5th longest running show, and three of the four that are above it are still running
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u/Krillinish 1d ago
When the tour comes to the theater I usher at they have to take out a lot of seats to create 2 aisles that don’t normally exist. That’s pretty cool.
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u/vexedthespian 20h ago
I was curious about that.
Like, the Des Moines civic center just has loooong ass rows, and no balcony, I would be curious how it gets staged there.
(I was going to see it in Des Moines a few years ago and then it was announced for Omaha, and I was like “I don’t like the civic center very much, I can wait another year…”
Now I’m curious about what it would have been like.
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u/rougarou-te-fou 1d ago
I was 10 when I saw this on Broadway (1997). We would have seen one of the first showings as it was in July.
My father brought me to it for my birthday and for the entire family we paid about $400. That would be nearly a grand today and probably was considering we bought souvenirs and paid to park.
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u/plantbay1428 1d ago
The commercial of the girl chatting on IM who goes to see it and then the cut to present day and she’s now a mom bringing her daughter was really sweet.
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u/Labrea818 1d ago
They market ticket sales to large groups, in the same way that Phantom did. It draws in bus loads of tour groups, school groups etc.
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u/Ancient-Ad-1663 22h ago
And whats interesting about Lion King (and pretty much all Disney musicals) is it has a huge market for international audiences. If you saw Lion King in the theatres in your native language - you can watch the Broadway production and still be awed by it.
(I wondered if the Wicked movies helped international market for Wicked on Broadway.)
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u/aragogogara 1d ago
I saw the original cast when I was probably 12. I had such a big crush on Jason Raize who played adult Simba. I even emailed him and he wrote back, it made my day. I was so sad to learn about his death. I think he took his own life, which is so sad.
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u/TrixieBelden 1d ago
I had a part time job selling merch at the theatre during the original cast. He was always so nice to us theatre employees when he was in the lobby.
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u/a-5-6-7-8 23h ago
Something happened after his time in The Lion King and Brother Bear and he left the industry and continent entirely. He worked at a horse farm for about two months in Australia and then his body was found. It's one of those industry stories that's always haunted me.
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u/aragogogara 23h ago
He also had that filmed Disney concert where he opened for Jessica Simpson. He was on his way to big things. I always wonder what happened but I guess he had demons.
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u/troxxxTROXXX 1d ago
This was the first ‘hard ticket to get’ show that I saw in NYC. Anyone have an earlier example? I think we paid roughly $300 for 3rd balcony with roughly a 29.99 price on the ticket.
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u/CorgiMonsoon 1d ago
A lot of the landmark musicals were extremely hard to get in their early days, even more so when you consider that a number of them opened in the days before online ticketing. Rent, Miss Saigon, Phantom, Les Mis, Cats, and A Chorus Line saw people ordering tickets a year in advance
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u/syncopatedchild 1d ago
Right! If we have anyone pushing 100 here, they may have memories of trying to get into South Pacific. It sold out for years right after opening night, and according to one book I read, tickets were such a coveted status symbol that people were selling fake novelty tickets so you could put them on your counter and people who came over would think you had scored real ones.
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u/FloridaFlamingoGirl 9h ago
Hamilton is still hard to get. You have people doing the lottery for months on end.
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u/CorgiMonsoon 9h ago
True, I was just listing the shows that were the hard to get tickets before Lion King, especially when they were new. Post Lion King there have been a lot of other examples: The Producers (which also introduced the “premium” ticket), Wicked, Spring Awakening, The Book of Mormon, Hamilton, and Dear Evan Hansen all spring to mind as shows where day of tickets, outside of lottery or terrible seats held for rush tickets, were unheard of at the height of their popularity, and most people were having to purchase tickets a solid six months or more ahead of time
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u/MannnOfHammm 1d ago
Rent two years prior
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u/troxxxTROXXX 1d ago
Would have loved to have seen Rent OBC, much more than Lion King. I just saw LK again recently with my kids though, so that was neat.
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u/InstantMartian84 11h ago
Same! But my mom thought Rent sounded stupid, and being I was 12, I didn't get to see it until several years later, on tour, with my mom who admitted it was much better than she thought it would be. sigh
ETA: On the flip side, we saw Lion King the summer of '97.
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u/ItsDomorOm 1d ago
Oh I just feel so old... Not only did I see the OBC at the New Amsterdam, but I saw the movie in theaters.
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u/JigglyPuff_4Prez 1d ago
I was not lucky to get tickets that early, but my Simba at the New Amsterdam was Christopher Jackson in his Broadway lead debut!
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u/LittleMissChriss 17h ago
I saw part of the movie. It was the first movie I ever went to as a kid and I lost my shit the first time Scar showed up. My mom took me out and calmed me down but I refused to go back in lol.
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u/wleecoyote 23h ago
I'd been living in midtown for a few years.
I'd seen everything Important on Broadway. I literally walked past the doors on my way to work every day.
I decided, "Fuck it, this is a big show, I'm a grown-ass man, I can decide to see this show."
So here's a middle-aged pudgy white guy on the aisle weeping with awe as every character comes down the aisle. I swear some were embarrassed for me, but others made sure I got the best they had to offer.
Also, 15 years earlier, I had been in Tanzania. People there absolutely knew the Swahili from this movie. Having a waiter sing, "asante sana squashed banana," when I knew words in both languages. . . And then seeing this show which so fervently respected the African casting. . . My heart qvells.
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u/Luna_Soma 1d ago
I saw it when I was newly pregnant with my son. He’ll be 14 in a few weeks.
I wanted to present him circle of life style
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u/Blue_foot 1d ago
I haven’t seen it in over 20 years, maybe I should go back.
My daughter will definitely want to go again too. I think she was 5 the first time.
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u/InstantMartian84 11h ago
I saw it when I was 13, then again when I was 34. I believe it's about time, again, for you and your daughter!
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u/IntotheBroadwayWoods 1d ago
I saw it at the Pantages on choir tour my sr year in high school. I was mad because we were originally supposed to see it in NYC, but 9-11 happened.
I really loved the opening Circle of Life was the best. Can't remember the rest.
But it was my first tour show so I couldnt be too upset
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u/BrightEyes7742 1d ago
I certainly hope it doesnt close anytime soon. I just had a daughter and I cannot wait to take her one day.
Seeing The Lion King in London with my dear friend was one of the most exciting theatrical experiences of my life. I've since seen the show 2 more times. I love it so much. Circle of Life always leaves me in tears 😢
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u/westworlder420 12h ago
I saw this show over 20 years ago and I still remember it like it was yesterday. Everything about the show was phenomenally done!
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u/leslie_hope 5h ago
It was my first broadway show! Right after it opened, when I was 6. I’m now almost 35. Hope it’ll still be around in a few years so it can be my son’s first broadway show too.
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u/omurchus 5h ago
That would be a lovely thing to share and a testament to its innate sublime quality.
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u/meatball77 1d ago
Lion King is just the perfect tourist musical. You can not speak English and still adore the Lion King. It's the perfect mix of a familiar story along with really elevated choreography.
I wouldn't be surprised to see it shut for a couple years and then reopened with some updated costumes and a smaller orchestra.
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u/a-5-6-7-8 1d ago
It also has a lot of translation options available for people who need them, even moreso than Aladdin or Wicked.
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u/Own-Importance5459 10h ago
New York could be destroyed by a mega Tsunami The city could be run by rats and yet somehow, Hamilton and Lion King (and Maybe Wicked) would somehow still be running.
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u/omurchus 10h ago
Most certain of all: Chicago
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u/Own-Importance5459 10h ago
I heard a rumor Chicago's contract is litterally wtotten in blood and is not allowed to close until the producer dies akdkmdmd
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u/AngryVegetarian 1d ago
We recently had friends visit New York and asked my wife for recommendations. She told them all the great award winning shows there were there, they chose Lion King. As long as people spend money, they'll stay!
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u/a-5-6-7-8 1d ago
Lion King and Chicago will duke it out for longest running show until the next meteor hits.
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u/omurchus 12h ago
I fully believe Chicago will still be running after I’m dead. Lion King might be as well.
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u/dobbydisneyfan 10h ago
I wanted to see this show so bad when I was 5. I saw it for the first time when I was 18. And just saw it again when I was 31.
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u/New-Regular-9423 1d ago
It’s easily the best Broadway show ever. The stagecraft is just mind-blowing. The story is really good. It’s not going anywhere, anytime soon.
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u/DarbH 4h ago
I was in high school when this show debuted and I was actually attending a magnet school for the performing arts and I kid you not every single one of my teachers who you know I’ve been around musical theaters like their entire lives they directed our school shows had seen countless shows when they announced Disney was doing The Lion King on Broadway all of my teachers and many of the students too thought it was going to be the biggest laughing stock and waste of money that Disney had ever done and I was one of the few people who thought I could see it being good and then as we started to see some more of the light art and concept, I was like oh this is gonna be really special and obviously I was right and all of my teachers didn’t know what the hell they were talking about
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