The Lion King
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London Theatre Direct
(Updated on Oct 21, 2022)
The Lion King first came to our screens in 1994 as Disney’s animated film. You may remember it yourself, as it was a hit among children and adults alike!
It was hugely successful and is the highest grossing 2D animated film of all time in the United States. It has been named as one of the best films of all times by its critics, and has received hugely positive reviews from all over the world.
Due to its great success, it was turned into a musical in July 1997 and first debuted in Minneapolis, Minnesota. After 5 months of its instant success it premiered in Broadway on 15 October 1997, and is still as popular today as it was in 1997.
The show came to London’s West End in October 1999, and is still staged at the Lyceum Theatre, where it has just recently celebrated its 10th Anniversary there.
Since 1999 the show has had other productions around the world. In Canada it was staged at the Prince of Wales theatre in Toronto and it ran for 4 years in 1999.
After this, the Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles had productions in September 2000 to January 2003, with almost 1000 performances.
In October 2003, Australia had a production in Sydney at the Capitol Theatre. It stayed there until June 2005 and then moved to The Regent Theatre in Melbourne from July 2005 to June 2006.
South Korea had a production in 2006 which ran for a year, and Holland had a production in 2004 at The Circus Theatre for 2 years.
In 2007, The Lion King made it to Africa! It had performances in Johannesburg, South Africa from June 2007 to February 2008.
Paris was next on the list! It came to the Theatre Mogador in 2007 until 2010. Mexico , Taiwan and Las Vegas saw their productions open in 2008 and 2009.
Madrid, Spain had its production open in 2010 where it is still performing. Japan, Germany and Singapore are the other countries holding productions to this date, so if you love to travel and love the lion king, why not visit in another country!
The Lion King continues to wow audiences and will always be a favorite classic, which will never grow old. The creation of the stage musical is outstanding and so much detail has gone in to producing this world famous musical. Hakuna Matata!