STRANGE PLAYMATES
The Lion King and The Book of Mormon are both onstage in Toronto again. And they’ve got more in common than you might think,
Two wildly successful musicals have arrived in Toronto for runs at Mirvish theatres.
The Lion King has set up shop at the Princess of Wales Theatre through early August, while The
Book of Mormon plays a shorter run at the Ed Mirvish through June 23.
In tone and theatrical approach, the shows couldn’t be more different. The Lion King is director Julie Taymor’s puppetry- and pageantry-led take on the famous 1994 Disney animated film, while Mormon channels the finger-in-your-eye humour of its co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, best known for the long-running adult animated sitcom South Park.
In another way, though, there’s a connection between the two, inasmuch as The Book of Mor
mon riffs off the success of The Lion King and includes many satirical hat-tips to it, starting with its two central Mormon missionaries being serenaded off on their mission to Africa by a character who looks and sounds a lot like The
Lion King’s resident oracle Rafiki (and who comes across as pretty darned incongruous in the bland American airport setting where she appears).
I talked to some musical theatre insiders for insight about what has made each of these productions so successful.
New York Times theatre critic Ben Brantley enthusiastically reviewed both of the shows’ Broadway openings. He calls The Lion King “a fairy story told in the most elemental and sophisticated language you can imagine” and attributes some of its longevity to its time-out-of-time quality. Like The Phantom of the Opera, The Lion
King creates an imagined world that “could only exist in the theatre,” says Brantley.
Like Brantley, London, U.K.-based critic and columnist David Benedict lavishes praise on The
Lion King’s opening minutes: the procession of Taymor’s magnificent life-sized animal puppets through the theatre to the song “Circle of Life” (if you’ve seen the show, you’re likely getting goosebumps just reading this).
“The whole opening of the show is so thrillingly original in terms of its staging that it buys goodwill on the audience’s part,” says Benedict.
MUSICALS continued on E6
“The audience, young and old, is utterly enthralled by the combination of design, music and performance.”
Michael Rubinoff, producing artistic director of the Canadian Music Theatre Project at Sheridan College, points out that the Walt Disney Company took risks in entrusting the beloved film — with songs by Elton John, lyrics by Tim Rice and score by Hans Zimmer — to director Taymor, then best known in theatre circles for her avant-garde, Indonesia-influenced productions of classics.
“Disney is very protective of its brand,” Rubinoff points out, noting that before The Lion King, its major foray into putting its animated movies onstage was the 1994 staging of Beauty and the Beast, which “was as much of a replica of the film as could be imagined onstage.”
The Lion King was the first fully staged original venture of the new leadership at Walt Disney Theatrical Productions, Thomas Schumacher and Peter Schneider. They came to those positions from the world of theatre, not film, and “wanted to tell Broadway that ‘You don’t have to be afraid of us at Disney; we’re not going to turn your business into a theme park,’ ” recalls New York Post theatre columnist Michael Riedel. “They convinced Michael (then-Disney chair and CEO Michael Eisner) to hire Julie.”
It was the combination of the already successful film and Taymor’s artistry that has led The Lion King musical to be the most successful entertainment property in history, with worldwide grosses of more than $9 billion, which only includes stage production.
The franchise is being extended next month with the computer-animated film remake starring the voices of, among others, Donald Glover and Beyoncé.
The key to The Book of Mormon’s success, meanwhile, was the existing fame and reputation of its co-creators Parker and Stone.
“They were huge stars in pop culture,” says Riedel. “What sold that show wasn’t the title but the fact that it was created by the guys who created South Park.” This was “Broadway coming out of the theatre ghetto and attracting talent from other areas of entertainment,” Riedel adds.
Producer Scott Rudin put Parker and Stone together with Robert Lopez, co-creator of another irreverent hit musical, Avenue Q (and who’s since cowritten the music for Frozen, including the juggernaut “Let It Go”), and the three of them authored The Book of Mormon’s book, lyrics and music together.
In Benedict’s view, The Book of Mormon’s music is mostly unmemorable, but “as comedy songs go, it’s sensational.”
Brantley agrees that for this show that’s ostensibly about forms of faith, “its ultimate religion is the religion of musical comedy.” Its pop culture credibility has allowed it to be “a great gateway into getting addicted to musicals,” he says.
From a content and language perspective, The Book of Mormon is certainly edgy, from its parody of the culture of Mormonism; to its depiction of Africans as impoverished, AIDSridden and desperate for Western salvation; and its many, many curse words.
The key is in the packaging, says Riedel: “While it’s subversive in its lyrics and themes and things that it’s doing, it plays like Bye Bye Birdie, a bright oldfashioned musical … Which is why parents don’t mind taking their kids to see it.”
In Rubinoff’s view, the show delivers risqué material but “centres it with a heart and message, and respect for the Mormon faith that’s attempting to do good in the world.”
From a business perspective, Rudin and co-producer Anne Garefino (the executive producer of the South Park TV show and films) created a sense of demand from the start, producing the show on Broadway not in a huge theatre associated with musicals but in the smaller Eugene O’Neill Theatre, best known for plays.
Rudin “figured out how to keep tickets tight,” says Riedel. Scarcity of tickets “created the hype that this was a must-see show.”
That strategy continued in London, where the show has been running since 2013. The producers “blitzed” an expensive and ubiquitous advertising and marketing campaign in advance of opening, says Benedict, and released tickets in multiple-month instalments rather than announcing an open run.
“You sell out and people want to get in even more,” he says. “They created a buzz.”
Toronto loves these shows, too. This is The Lion King’s fourth run here, after a sitdown production from 2000 to 2004, and two touring visits in 2011 and 2014. By the end of this run, Mirvish expects that a total of more than 3.35 million spectators will have seen the show in Toronto.
This is also Mormon’s fourth spin through the 6ix, having played here in 2013, 2014 and 2017. By the end of this run, more than 415,000 people will have viewed it here.
If you’ve not seen them yet, now’s your chance.
“You sell out and people want to get in even more. They created a buzz.” DAVID BENEDICT LONDON THEATRE CRITIC