Lion King Roars into Vegas

The Tony Award-winning Broadway show “Disney’s The Lion King” just opened at Mandalay Bay and anyone who sees the show’s elaborate sets and intricate costumes will realize that it must take a lot of work behind the scenes to stage the production.

There are 143 people directly involved with the daily production of the show – 53 cast members, 21 musicians, 17 wardrobe people, five hair/make-up artists, three puppet craftsmen, 13 carpenters, 10 electricians, eight administrative people, six creative associates, four props people and three sound people.

Some more amazing facts about “Disney’s The Lion King:”

• There are more than 200 puppets in the show, including rod puppets, shadow puppets, and full-sized puppets
• There are 25 kinds of animals, birds, fish, and insects represented in the show
• There are 12 bird kites in the opening number of Act II, “One By One”
• It took 17,000 hours to build the puppets and masks
• Mufasa’s mask weighs 11 ounces 
• Scar’s mask weighs nine ounces
• The most complicated set piece is Pride Rock.  It is a battery powered piece that is 18 feet  long at its fullest onstage and compresses to eight feet when it is offstage 
• The tallest animals in the show are the 18-foot exotic giraffes seen in “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King”
• The tiniest animal is the trick mouse at the end of Scar’s cane:  five inches
• The longest animal is an elephant:  13 feet  long, 11 feet, 3 inches high, and nine feet wide at the ears. It collapses to 34 inches wide to go down the aisle in the theatres
• 300 feet of carbon fiber and 750 pounds of silicone rubber were used to make the masks
• The Timon puppet weighs 15 pounds
• Number of wigs in the show:  49

Buy your ticket to see Lion King in Las Vegas.