Re-inventing the king

Simba’s father Mufasa (left) is head to head in an argument with his brother Scar.— Photo Courtesy of Disney Theatrical Productions and BASE Entertainment

It’s a Broadway musical based on a Disney cartoon featuring lovable savannah creatures, but put aside expectations of fuzzy costumes depicting man-size critters or rodents.

Instead get ready for a show oozing with symbolism, emotions and artistic influences hailing from Africa and Asia.

Fabrics and beads used in the show’s costumes are true to the handmade African garments that inspired them, while several characters are portrayed cunningly using the Bunraku puppetry technique from Japan, which enables advanced control over the puppets, thus creating graceful, life-like movements.

The make-up is mostly based on the tribal face-painting patterns from Africa.

Director and designer Julie Taymor spent five years in Indonesia and the arts of the archipelago have also made their way seemlessly into various elements of The Lion King musical.

For example, several scenes are presented using the wayang kulit shadow puppet technique. The dances and overall animal-like movements of the actors drew inspiration from traditional Indonesian dances such as the topeng and Balinese dance.

The rigor of learning these movements can be challenging even for those ready for the demands of acting in a musical.

“It was a great experience. But it was hard to do for us. We hadn’t had that kind of training for years… I walked away with a lot of aching muscles after the classes,” Jonathan Andrew Hume, who plays Simba in the Singapore cast, said of the class he took to master choreography for the show.

Associate director John Stefaniuk said that a Balinese dance instructor from Indonesia was brought to perform the dances for the production’s cast and crew.

“We were able to see first-hand how important and how infused to the puppetry and storytelling the Balinese movement is,” he said.

Choreography and puppetry are just two aspects of The Lion King that were composed with special care.

It took more than 17,000 hours to build the show’s masks and puppets. Authentic African musical instruments are used in the show. The flute player alone in the music ensemble plays 19 different flutes.

Kjeld Anderson, who is in charge of the show’s wardrobe, rolled his eyes and said that he had no idea how many kilograms of beads were used in the costumes but it was “thousands, thousands, I have no count on it…”

Then, of course, there are the actors. The lineup for the Singapore cast has been described as the most international, with performers hailing from numerous parts of the world, including South Africa, Taiwan, the Philippines and New Zealand.

Hume said that it is in fact his first experience playing the main character after years of being an understudy for the part. Hume nor Puleng March, who plays Nala in the Singapore lineup, said that they were never wary of being part of The Lion King.

The pair agreed that their favorite scene, the circle of life routine that opens the musical, always provided them with a thrill.

“Every time you walk down there, the action, and the excitement — even from the back of the stage — already you get the feeling of being in the show…” March said.

The original Rafiki in the cartoon was a male baboon trusted to be the king’s adviser.

However, Taymor wanted more strong female characters in the musical, thus Rafiki became a female healer.

Gugwana Dlamini, who plays Rafiki, delivers a memorable performance. Despite the absence of a mask (she sports only bright face-paint), Dlamini’s comical gestures and movements were sufficient to convey the character.

Rafiki, however, also has a motherly side. Dlamini said that images of her own mother had influenced her in embracing the role.

“When I was doing this character I think of my mother. She’s got a very, very strong character and is very warm at the same time.” Dlamini, who has been playing the role for eight years, said.

Female characters have sizeable roles in the musical. Aside from Rafiki, this is also shown in the lionesses’ roles in the story. They are, after all, the hunters in the pack.

The Singapore performance was enhanced further by the venue’s quality: the newly built Marina Bay Sands Theater, a world-class venue that seats 1,680.

Its quality was one of the reasons why Singapore was on the list of cities that have hosted The Lion King, along with New York and Tokyo.

“You have to have a theater that can take The Lion King,” music supervisor Clemet Ishmael said.

“You have to have the correct venue and there are other technical elements that have to be in place.”

The Lion King was brought to Singapore by Disney Theatrical Productions, BASE Entertainment and the Marina Bay Sands.

The show runs eight times at the Marina Bay Sands. Tickets start at S$65.

— JP/Dina Indrasafitri