Disney’s most successful musical production continues to break new ground on Broadway. At today’s 7pm performance “The Lion King” will mark the 9,000th Broadway performance of the show. This historic milestone has been achieved by only two other shows in Broadway history.
From when the first “The Lion King” premiered on Broadway on November 13, 1997 in the renovated New Amsterdam Theatre to its current home in the Minskoff Theatre (200 West 45th Street), it has crossed many milestones:
- 1,098,000 steps have been climbed to the top of Pride Rock
- “Hakuna Matata” has been said and sung 234,000 times
- Rafiki and Simba have swung in on the vine a combined 36,000 times
- There have been 18,000 coronations
- Pride Rock has rotated 603 miles
- There have been 109 Young Simba’s and Nala’s, which the company calls “The Cubs”
The show’s director, costume designer and mask co-designer Julie Taymor continues to play an integral part in the show’s ongoing success. She was also brought in to consult on the new movie coming from Disney.
“The Lion King” as a stage musical brand with 25 worldwide productions, just celebrated reaching 100 million guests worldwide. The Lion King’s worldwide gross exceeds that of any film, Broadway show or other entertainment title in box office history and will soon grow even more valuable as the photo-realism inspired computer animated movie directed by Jon Favreau will open in theaters this July.
Congratulations to Disney Theatrical Productions and its leader Thomas Shoemacher for making history by telling some of the world’s most powerful and heartwarming stories on stage.