The Geography of Musical Theatre: The Lion King

The Lion King is a musical on Broadway and the Lyceum theatre in London's West End. It is very different to other musicals, probably because all the characters are animals and it is set in Africa. The beautiful masks and costumes along with the African-style music really sets the atmosphere for this musical. Dance and ethnic ritual are used. Life-sized puppets are also used. The video shows that even on a West End stage the African kingdom can be recreated. The actors have mechanical headpieces that make their movements more animal-like. This helps the audience to imagine real African animals on the stage. The Lion King is set in a place called Pride Rock. The main part of the kingdom in the film and the stage musical is the large rock, where many important events take place. Spiral staircases and trap doors allow the actors to get where they need to be.

The names of the charcters in the musical also show that this is an African production. Mufasa, Nala, Simba, Zazoo and Rafiki are some examples. The famous song, "Hakuna Matata", is a swahili phrase meaning "there are no worries". In the West End, Richard Hudson is the stage designer and he himselg is from Zimbabwe. To conclude, the wonderful costumes, believable set and African-style music really creates the African Kingdom on the stage.