The Lion King Musical on Broadway this week marked its 25th anniversary since the official opening in 1997 with producer and composer Lebohang Morake, better known as Lebo M, honoured with a special recognition by the South African Consul General in New York.
The night also saw the opening of a Lion King Masks and Costumes Exhibition at the Consulate’s South African Cultural Centre.
It’s an icon scene from an iconic musical that has wowed audiences across the globe.
While becoming the third-longest running Broadway show in history, winning six Tony Awards in 1998 while Lebo M was part of the team that scooped the Grammy for Best Instrumental Arrangement for the 1994 Movie’s song Circle of Life/Nant’s Ingonyama.
President of the Disney Theatrical Group, Thomas Schumacher says, “When we began working on the stage version, Julie Taymor, our director and conceived of the show, said, I need him. And so Lebo has been embedded in the show from the very beginning. He first transformed the film into what we know, and then he transformed the stage, and he was in fact a performer in the show originally. His connection to this material is emotional, it is deep, it is profound. And it opened the door to fill the show with South African performers, which have made it so vibrant and so beautiful and so soulful. It’s a humble, simple story, but made more true and more real by having the truth of the story appear on stage.”
The Tony-winning musical officially opened on Broadway in New York on November 13th, 1997 bringing to life, in theatre and on stage, masks and costumes now on display at the South African Cultural Centre, located inside the country’s Consulate General in Manhattan. It’s an exhibition space that opened last September as Consul General Dr Motumisi Tawana explained.
SA story through arts and culture
“We believe in ensuring that the South African story is best told through arts and culture and Lion King as a production, the Lion King even as an exhibition, is one of the best ways of telling the South African story.”
Then recognizing Lebo M’s immense contribution through arts and culture, in music, film and theatre.
“I’m grateful for the journey I’ve been able to go through, but that those who came before me long before I was born, to whom I dedicate this moment to, who walked the streets of America, knocked bigger doors, your Hugh Masekela’s, Caiphus Semenya, Letta Mbulu, Abdullah Ibrahim. I’m feeling a little overwhelmed that I never knew that I have the responsibility to be continuing the journey that those great giants of our country long walked before I was born.”
He also pointed to the profound impact arts and culture should be having on the broader South African project.
“No-one said to us, 25 years we will be here, will be in New York. And I’m still one of those that are still arriving at understanding the impact of our work. But this other side of it is that it also is pleasing to know that through this journey, we have changed lives in a very significant way.
The financial impact we’ve had on South African lives from day one of the Lion King in foreign currency is yet to be realised and understood. We’ve changed lives.”
“I’m very proud that it’s been 25 years and maybe even more, and especially as a South African, for them to have South Africans in the show and knowing that the show cannot be done without South Africans.”
Current cast member, Lindsay Holmes says, “As a company member that have been in the show for nine years now, I am a gazelle, I’m a lion, I’m a hyena. I change 17 times and we work really hard to move the audience every night. And so it just is really fulfilling that we get to be here 25 years later, you know, like that Julie’s vision came to life and is still living and breathing and you can feel it.”
