LION KING ROARS BACK INTO TOWN
HIT DISNEY ADAPTATION TO RETURN RECORD-BREAKING SHOW BROUGHT £6 MILLION TO CITY ECONOMY ON PREVIOUS RUN
HIT Disney production The Lion King is returning to Bristol. The hugely successful show is set for a run at the Bristol Hippodrome later this year, as part of its second UK and Ireland tour which coincides with it celebrating 20 years at London’s Lyceum Theatre.
Since the UK premiere in London in October 1999, the show has played to more than 15 million theatregoers and remains the West End’s best-selling stage production, and the sixth longest running West End musical of all time.
Tickets for the Bristol run in September are due to go on general sale in February and are expected to sell out quickly – the previous tour broke attendance records across the nation.
With a cast of more than 50 actors, singers and dancers, the story is brought to life using masks, puppets and striking costumes to tell the story of young Simba’s epic adventures as he struggles to accept the responsibilities of adulthood and becoming king.
Julie Taymor’s internationally-celebrated stage adaptation opened on Broadway in 1997 and 25 global productions have now been seen by more than 95 million people.
The innovative director brought a vast array of disciplines to The Lion King, including extensive experience staging epic theatre and opera productions, exploring classic myths through ritualised puppetry, mask, and movement.
It was the first musical she directed in the commercial theatre and she made Broadway history by becoming the first woman to win the Tony Award for Best Director of a Musical.
Having played in more than 100 cities in 20 countries on every continent except Antarctica, its worldwide gross exceeds that of any film, Broadway show or other entertainment title in box office history.
Performed in nine different languages, productions of The Lion King can currently be seen on Broadway, London’s West End, Hamburg, Tokyo and Sapporo, Madrid, Scheveningen in Holland, Daegu in South Korea and on tour across North America – a total of nine productions running at the same time across the globe.
Priority sign-up for tickets to the Bristol run will begin at 10.30am today at the website thelionking. co.uk.