The Lion King Celebrates Its 27th Anniversary on Broadway

The Lion King will celebrate its 27th anniversary on Broadway today, November 13, at the Minskoff Theatre. It is the third Broadway show, after The Phantom of the Opera and Chicago, to reach this milestone.

The Lion King has been in the top five grossing Broadway shows virtually every week for every year it has been on Broadway. The musical currently plays to 90,000 people every week in eight productions (Broadway, Toronto, London, Paris, Hamburg, Madrid, Tokyo, and on tour across North America) on three continents. There have been 29 productions in the show’s history, seen by approximately 120 million people.

Based on the 1994 Disney animated film, The Lion King features the songs from the film by Elton John and Tim Rice, along with new songs by John and Rice and additional musical material by South African Lebo M, Mark Mancina, Jay Rifkin, Julie Taymor, and Hans Zimmer.

The Lion King won six Tony Awards in 1998: Best Musical, Best Scenic Design (Richard Hudson), Best Costume Design (Julie Taymor), Best Lighting Design (Donald Holder), Best Choreography (Garth Fagan), and Best Direction of a Musical (Julie Taymor). Taymor was the first woman to win a Tony Award for Best Director of a Musical. Lebo M and Garth Fagan also hold Broadway records. With The Lion King at over 10,600 Broadway performances, Lebo M and Garth Fagan are the longest-running Black composer and choreographer in Broadway history.

Fourteen original cast and crew members remain with the show. Lindiwe Dlamini has performed in the show since its first pre-Broadway preview in Minneapolis in summer 1997. Seven musicians have been in the orchestra pit since its Broadway opening: Tom Brett, Avril Brown, George Flynn, Eliana Mendoza, Rolando Morales-Matos, Horace “Junior” Wedderburn, and David Weiss. Original crew members still working on the show include Cynthia Boardman (assistant wardrobe supervisor), Elizabeth Cohen (production makeup supervisor), Hilda Garcia-Suli (wardrobe), Doug Graf (head follow spot operator), Anne Salt (puppet technician and props), and Sean Strohmeyer (Varilites electrics).