Actors or Animals?

Lion King Broadway: "The Circle of Life"

The successful Disney movie, The Lion King, first appeared on the big screen on June 24, 1994, and made its Broadway premiere on November 13, 1997. The show has been running on Broadway ever since and currently is number two on Broadway.com's "Popular Broadway Shows" list. The musical follows the same story as the movie, but you may be asking yourself, "How do people imitate animals live on stage?" After analyzing a few clips from the show, I'm going to answer that question in this post.

When analyzing "The Circle of Life" clip, I noticed many different things that helped the actors portray animals. First off, we have the movements that the actors use. The movements help the actor become more like the animal they are playing. For example, the actors that control the birds move their arms to make the birds flap their wings.

The whole setting of the show, a savanna in Africa, is conveyed through the costumes. The clothing and masks have many patterns and items that give the show an African vibe. You see a lot of these patterns in the lionesses' costumes. Rafiki's costume gives off the same vibe.

Lion King Broadway: Julie Taymor

Actors wear masks on top of their heads and body paint to represent their animals. Simba, Mufasa, and Scar have very unique masks that support their character. Mufasa's mask is circular and seems to imitate the sun, and Scar's has more sharp edges that give a more evil feel. The circular theme throughout the musical seems to represent "the circle of life" theme of the show. Most of the lioness masks look similar, but the designs on each are different from one another. Other masks are used throughout the show to represent other animals, like the wildebeests in the stampede scene.

The giraffe costume is one of my favorite costumes out of the whole show. The actors have to have a ton of skill to be able to walk in the costume. The actor in the giraffe costume has to walk on all fours on stilts. They also have to do it with the head of a giraffe on top of their head. Trying to keep your head up and balancing on stilts cannot be an easy job. The stilts and masks are important to imitate the height and movements of a real giraffe.

Another amazing costume in the show is the cheetah. The cheetah's back legs are attached to the actor's legs. The actor controls the front legs with their arms by using poles. There is a wire that connects the puppet's head to the actor's head. So when the actor moves their head, the cheetah moves its head with them.

The elephant is a complex costume. Four people control the elephant that is seen in "The Circle of Life." Each actor occupies one leg of the elephant. Three of the actors play the three hyenas, Shenzi, Banzai, and Ed, later in the show. The lack of communication between the actors is what makes the costume so complex. They have to walk down the aisle at the same pace and then walk up the steps of the stage, which can be pretty complicated since the actors can't communicate with each other.

Some birds are attached to a long pole that is moved by actors to appear as if they are flying. The actors move the pole in a circular motion so the bird will move in the same motion.

That is just a few of the costumes of The Lion King that are used to imitate animals.  Each costume is uniquely designed and has many different functions to look like the animal that is being played.

Lion King Broadway

Sources:

“Disney THE LION KING: Award-Winning Best Musical.” Disney THE LION KING | Award-Winning Best Musical, https://www.lionking.com/.

“The Lion King - Circle of Life: Musical Awards Gala 2018.” YouTube, 24 Jan. 2018, https://youtu.be/ewOAsUWQJvo.