Back in the 1960s, vocalist Lou Christie sang a pop tune called Two Faces Have I. In the ‘90s, two famed puppet/mask designers took that concept to create masks for the live stage version of Disney’s The Lion King.
The idea not only worked, it roared.
Since The Lion King debuted on Broadway in 1997, more than 90 million people worldwide have experienced its visual artistry and reveled in its award-winning score.
Based on the eponymous animated Disney film, the stage adaptation features music by Elton John and lyrics by Tim Rice. Six indigenous African languages are spoken throughout the show and extraordinary costumes often exceed the expectations of show planners and audiences.
The Lion King has just passed through South Florida. In mid-spring, the Serengeti was recreated behind the footlights at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach. The production, with its array of performers and elegant scenery, completed its run at the Adrienne Arsht Center in Miami on May 26.
The show that packed those two venues combined the talents of Disney Theatrical Productions with the redoubtable capabilities of Julie Taymor, the show’s director, costume designer, and —with Michael Curry — mask co-designer.
Taymor is the first woman to win a Tony Award for Direction of a Musical. Curry is owner and operator of Michael Curry Design, which creates live performance-oriented devices for Cirque du Soleil, Super Bowl shows, the Olympics, and was the creative force behind New York City’s millennium event in 2000.
With a nod to Christie’s song title, the masks for most lead characters are attached to the top of the actors’ heads, meaning their faces as well as their animal avatars can be identified. The masks drop to cover faces when characters reveal their more animalistic sides.
Background performers are fitted with more stylized devices or puppet-style gear, including bicycle-like equipment for herds of running gazelles; stilts and neck extensions for giraffes, and a vast amount of rigging and structuring for elephants. The stampede, critical to the plot, is artfully crafted in a manner that defies explanation. But it appears so real and works so well in the show.
Taymor said once she discovered she needed to show both the human and animal traits of The Lion King characters, she labored to convince Disney of her concept. That involved creating three versions of the character Scar, three Zazus, and two Timons, and presenting all to Disney’s then-CEO, Michael Eisner. He gave the thumbs-up.
The musical is a sweet love story between a father and son — Mufasa, the lion king at the opening and his son and successor, Simba. Later comes the sweetheart tale of the mature Simba getting to know his betrothed, Nala.
(Photo by Dale King)
Taymor explained the imagery of the masks. “Obviously, Mufasa is the sun. That’s why you have the circle [the song, Circle of Life]. He’s very much about symmetry and radiation, the sun god. Simba and Nala are in that world of Mufasa.” Of her experience with The Lion King, Taymor said: “It’s the most fun thing I’ve ever done in my life.”