Writers look back on 25 years of ‘Lion King’ as musical prepares its return to Wichita
As a touring production of “The Lion King” makes its way to Century II later this month for 16 performances over a two-week span, the writers of the stage musical are reminiscing about where they were 25 years ago.
Roger Allers and Irene Mecchi were no strangers to “Lion King” — he was co-director of the hit animated Disney movie in 1994, which she co-wrote — but expanded the 90-minute film to a more Broadway-friendly 2 ½ hours.
African culture took center stage in the adaptation of the Elton John-Tim Rice score, with actors and puppeteers representing the animated characters.
The first previews were in Minneapolis and, in a joint interview from their respective California homes, Allers and Mecchi recall their uncertainty before the opening number, “Circle of Life.”
“Everyone was holding their breath, and at the end of that number you could just feel the audience go, ‘Ahhh, we’ve never seen anything like this before,’” Mecchi said. “The wonderful African choral element really made it rooted to Mother Earth.”
“It was so exciting,” Allers added. “We were joyful and tearful and everything just to feel the audience’s response. From that point you could breathe a sigh and watch the rest of the show.”
By the time it was ready to play Broadway three months later, “Lion King” got a boost with an appearance on Rosie O’Donnell’s New York-based daytime talk show.
“The box office, back when you could use a telephone, went insane and sold a million dollars of tickets in a matter of hours. She had clout,” Mecchi said of O’Donnell. “It was an experience unlike anything else.”
“Lion King” went on to become the highest-grossing musical in Broadway history, notching six Tony Awards (including best musical, best director for Julie Taymor and best choreography for Garth Fagan), and cementing its place as the third longest-running musical on Broadway.
Touring productions, which began 20 years ago this month, have made their way around the world. Century II hosted a four-week run of “Lion King” in 2012.
Neither Allers nor Mecchi were attached to writing the theatrical version when they began helping Taymor – who had not seen the animated movie, they said – with the adaptation.
“She was definitely looking at it to see how it could be expanded,” Allers said, adding that Taymor championed converting songs from an instrumental score of the movie into full production numbers, as well as bringing more female performers to the forefront.
“We sat in a room and put cards on a board and talked about what could be done here and there and what opportunities were there. It was an interesting process,” Allers said. “A lot of times when Irene and I were talking about process we’d improvise a scene, which is how we work. We’d slip into the voices of the characters. At one point Julie said, ‘Wow, you still have these characters in your head. Why am I looking for a writer to write this thing?’”
There were hiccups along the way. Mecchi and Allers can laugh now about an early performance where one of the puppeteers operating a giraffe stumbled and fell on stage and the cast had to step over them during “Circle of Life.”
“They had to drag him off stage by his ankles,” Mecchi recalled.
There was confidence throughout the Disney organization before the musical’s opening, they said.
“We were fortunate in that the guys who ran the animation division came from the theater,” Mecchi said. “They knew the process and knew the milestones a project needed to hit to make it onstage. It was very closely monitored and guided. And nobody had an ego because nobody knew if it would work.”
Given the success of “Lion King” tours, Allers and Mecchi shepherded translations of the musical into French, German, Spanish, British English, Mandarin and Portuguese.
“It’s tricky, especially with humor and all that, trying to keep it closely resembling the intention,” Allers said. “A lot of the humor is based on the play of words, and we have to find other ways of expressing that.”
A translator and a “back translator” would adapt the script to each language and then interpret it back for the playwrights.
“It goes from the majestic poetry of Mufasa’s wonderful speech on the top of Pride Rock to silly, goofy wordplay humor,” Mecchi said. “Finding the equivalent is always part of the fun.”
“The film did very well around the world, so we felt like the basis, the whole story of it, would travel well,” Allers said. “It’s always interesting to see, especially in the world of humor, that it varies from places to places. Some things get laughs in places and not in other places.”
The two said they have never been tempted to go back and change any of the script, although a residency in Las Vegas led them to take a closer look at the material.
“We wondered whether the people who go to Las Vegas to gamble and do stuff would have to patience for a full-length musical like this,” Allers said. “We said it was an opportunity to do some nicks and tucks. If there was anything we ever felt we could cut, we did. We took out a song, a little one.”
Mecchi said it was wonderful that “Lion King” would be part of an enduring legacy.
“You know what’s wonderful about it is that now three generations of the same family can attend,” she said. “The parents, who saw the film when they were a kid, are now the parents and they can bring their parents. You think about those common threads that people will keep going to 25 years later.”
‘THE LION KING’
When: 7:30 p.m. April 27 and May 3-5; 2 and 7:30 p.m. April 28 and 30; 8 p.m. April 29 and May 6; 2 and 8 p.m. April 30 and May 7; 1 and 6:30 p.m. May 1 and 8
Where: Century II concert hall, 225 W. Douglas
Tickets: $35-$150, from wichitatix.com, the Century II box office, and 303-8100