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Countdown to Lion King opening begins

10 May 2007

The acclaimed Disney production The Lion King has moved into its new African home ahead of its grand opening on 6 June 2007. The cast and crew are now installed in the new R100 million state-of-the-art Teatro at Montecasino, Fourways, Johannesburg, which has been built especially for the hit musical show.

The Teatro is now South Africa’s largest theatre, with an audience capacity of more than 1900 people and one of the 10 largest lyric theatres in the world.

10th country, 10th anniversary

The Lion King will begin previewing on 22 May and opens on 6 June with an entirely local cast of 53 and a 20-member orchestra backed by a technical crew of 70. SA will be the 10th country to host the production in the year that the show celebrates its 10th anniversary on Broadway. It is also the first Lion King production in the world which will be entirely cast from the country it is playing in.

Martin McCallum, renowned international theatre consultant and designer, was appointed by Montecasino to direct the design of the R100 million theatre. Clever design has ensured that good sightlines are achieved for the whole audience, with every seat guaranteed a maximum distance of 30m from the stage.

Sello Maake Ka-Ncube will play Mufasa, a role he played on London’s West End; Buyisile Zama will reprise her role as Rafiki; Mark Rayment is the evil Scar; Pierre van Heerden and Peter Mashiga are Pumbaa and Timon, while young actor Andile Gumbi has been cast as Simba. Other leading roles are played by Lyall Ramsden as Zazu, Tsholo Monedi as Nala, Candida Mosoma as Shenzi, Simon Gwala as Bazai, Michael Bagg as Ed and Zoe Mthiyane as Sarabi.

SA connections

The Lion King – which many critics have said is the most innovative experience in theatre history – has had a SA connection since its world premiere at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis before its transfer to Broadway in 1997. Much of the music was based on the work of SA Grammy Award-winning composer, arranger and producer Lebo M and SA performers have been in every production of The Lion King around the world.

Disney’s The Lion King in SA will be co-produced by Lebo M and Pieter Toerien, with Bongani Tembe as associate producer. The SA production has been sponsored by Telkom, in association with SABC, British Airways and Southern Sun.

Performances of the production of The Lion King can only be seen at the Montecasino Teatro Theatre in Johannesburg and won’t move around the country.