| | Timon
has a special surprise in store for his good friend Simba – a
musical journey through his epic life called The Legend Of The
Lion King. The excitement, the anticipation! It is
time… let the magic begin! |  | A
spectacular waterfall cascades down in the middle of the stage as
Rafiki holds the newborn lion cub Simba into the air. The water
stops and Rafiki begins the show with an energetic performance of
“Circle of Life” and “Welcome to Our World”. The show
director, Timon, arrives back on stage to congratulate the
performers and give them some extra tips, with the help of Pumbaa
and Zazu. | Then
his majesty himself, Simba, arrives at the
side of the stage and Timon announces the exciting surprise stage
show about his legendary life! Simba
sways along as his friends on stage perform “I Just Can’t Wait To
Be King” with a colourful backdrop and lots of playful competition
between Simba and Nala. The other animals surround Simba and
follow closely behind him as they try to get a piece of his future
majesty, shading him with giant leaves and giving him an extra
flare of fun. |  | | Just
as everything was looking just perfect for Simba, Scar casts the
stage into darkness and smoke fills the scene as he tells his
loyal hyenas to “Be Prepared” for the murkiest scam to make him
the undisputed king of Pride Rock. The sound of a wildebeest
stampede echoes around the stage as Simba dashes into sight, the
herd of unstoppable animals thundering along behind him.
Scar laughs wickedly as Simba falls to his knees and his father,
Mufasa, is crushed by the stampede. Convinced by Scar that
he caused the death of his father, Simba runs away in guilt to
never return to Pride Rock… |  | Many
years later, in a jungle oasis where everything is problem-free,
we join Simba with his new friends Timon and Pumbaa as Simba
confesses that he still misses Pride Rock. Hakuna Matata!
Timon and Pumbaa work their friendship magic and with their
problem-free philosophy they cheer Simba up as Pumbaa swings
through the trees and reminisces about his upsetting childhood. | As
Simba returns to his normal cheerful self, his world is once again
turned upside down as Nala arrives. A historic reunion of
the two childhood friends takes place as the moonlight and stars
add a beautiful touch of romance to the scene. She thought
he was no longer alive… he though she would never forgive him.
Their love brings them back together and they realise what they
most want is each other. The other animals around them form
couple and dance in the moonlight as two beautiful birds glide in
from opposite sides of the stage, to later leave together in the
bond of love whilst Simba and Nala lie together under the stars. | The
mysterious sounds of wise African chanting break the romance as
Rafiki runs on stage to get Simba’s attention. Simba stands
up and looks around curiously to try and see where the strange
noises are coming from, before he sees Rafiki and she tells him to
listen to wise words of his father – King Mufasa! “Look
inside yourself Simba. Remember who you are. You are
my son and the one true King. You must take your place in
the Circle of Life…” The misty formation of Mufasa’s face
fades away and Simba announces to Nala that he will return to
Pride Rock… |  | The
stage suddenly glows orange as blasts of flames shoot up all
around and the hyenas jump around in triumph. Scar parts the
flames at the back of the stage to appear victorious in a reprise
of his “Be Prepared” master plan. Before he can finish,
however, Simba arrives back at Pride Rock and Scar reveals that it
was him who killed Mufasa. “Hyenas – kill him!”, Scar
shouts, as the grand battle begins and flames lick the edges of
the stage. With the Hyenas out of the way, Simba confronts
Scar and a purple glow takes over the scene as a final slow-motion
battle begins between the two lions. Simba slashes Scar’s
face and picks him up off the ground, before Scar retaliates with
a quick swipe of his claws across Simba’s body. Simba
eventually manages to hit back at Scar and knows him over
backwards – down into the fiery hell below. | The
fight is over – Simba, the true King, has returned. He is
initiated into the great Circle of Life by Rafiki and the legend
is complete! The real Simba, at the edge of the stage, then
invites everyone to join in a final celebration. All the
singers and performers from the show return to the stage in a
fantastic encore medley of the show’s songs. “I Just Can’t
Wait To Be King”, “Be Prepared”, “Can You Feel The Love Tonight”
and “Circle of Life” give the show a spectacular finale and allow
the performers to take your breath away with their unbelievable
singing talent. | An
epic legend is complete – a legend of responsibility, of
fear, of joy, of love. It’s the Circle of
Life, and it truly moves us all. | | | |
 | |
Reservation Tickets | Due
to high demand, free reservation tickets are required to see
this show. |
Reservation tickets are distributed in the late morning for earlier
performances and mid-afternoon for the last performances in the area to the
side of Videopolis Theatre, next to the Star Tours queue line.
See above for the exact times, as they change throughout the
year. |
Reservation tickets give you a guaranteed place inside the
theatre (not an exact seat) at the time specified on the ticket
and are limited to the number of seats available. | | |
Getting Reservation Tickets | � It
is recommended that you start queuing to collect your tickets at
least 30 minutes in advance, though on busy days this can
increase dramatically. It could be a good idea to get a
drink and a snack from Caf� Hyperion in Videopolis and then
taking this into the queue with you. | � To
collect tickets, you need the park passport (entry ticket) of
everyone who wants to see the show. This means that just
one person could queue to get tickets for the whole group,
perfect if that person doesn’t want to ride Space Mountain:
Mission 2 just yet! | | � If
you get to the front of the queue and all the English show
tickets are gone, then just ask for French ones instead.
The French version of the show features only the dialogue in
French – all the musical numbers are still presented in English! | | |
Getting a Good Seat | � It
is recommended that you arrive back at the theatre at least 20
minutes before your scheduled showtime. Doors open around
15 minutes before showtime. | �
There are many excellent seats in the theatre. Just try to
sit as close to the middle as possible. | �
During the “Final Celebration Medley” sequence, some of the cast
come off the stage and dance in the aisles, so try to sit here
if you want to get even closer to the action. | | | Caf�
Hyperion | � If
you don’t want to queue for Reservation Tickets, get something
to eat from Caf� Hyperion and sit in the restaurant area at the
back of the theatre. Here you can get a fairly average
view of the show. There are also large video screens above
you showing the action on stage. | |  | | | |  | The
incredible music of The Legend Of The Lion King originates from
the music of Disney’s Animal Kingdom’s Festival of The Lion
King show, but has been reworked and added to to give the
show its distinctly musical-stage-show feel. The brand new
“Prologue” and “Mufasa” sections of the soundtrack
create a dramatic atmosphere for the water curtain effects,
whilst the new “Welcome To Our World” section after the
initial “Circle Of Life” gives the show a unique feeling
and a good way to welcome Simba – and the audience – into their
world. Towards the end of the show, another new addition
is the “Circle of Life” reprise, which features an
excellent slow rhythm to allow Rafiki to show off her talent and
to contrast with the high-energy finale which follows. |
Vasile Sirli, musical director for Disneyland Resort Paris, was
responsible for adapting the music for this new production,
whilst the original songs from the film featured music by Elton
John with lyrics by Tim Rice and the Festival of The Lion
King music was produced by Dan Stamper. At the time of
The Legend Of The Lion King’s premiere, Vasile Sirli said “It
might seem difficult [to create a new variation of the music]
given that the music has been released in a wide variety of
forms – the musical and a variety of video releases, for example
– since the original film�s appearance 10 years ago. The
repertoire, however, is so rich that there is always room to
adapt it.” | | | |  | |
The
Legend Of The Lion King
EDDA027-2
Tracks: 18
Running time: 40m 23s | An
excellent soundtrack CD featuring all the music from the show,
plus instrumental versions and some extra new remixes. | | | | | |  | The
Legend Of The Lion King was produced by Walt Disney Entertainment
Paris and creatively developed in collaboration with Walt Disney
Creative Entertainment California, taking its inspiration from
both the “Festival of the Lion King” show in Disney’s Animal
Kingdom, Florida and the Broadway/West End musical. | The
show replaced the musical medley show “Mickey’s ShowTime”, and
brought a complete redesign of the Videopolis Theatre stage with
it. A whole new stage was put in place with incorporates the
thousands of fibre optic endings aswell as the numerous other
effects, such as a giant “water curtain” and faux fire effects,
all designed and put together by Bernard Arnould (Scenic Designer)
and Fabrice Kebour (Lighting and Projection Designer). The “FauxFire”
flame effects during the Simba and Scar fight are obtained by
back-lighted vapour jets streaming out from various places on
stage. The effect is enhanced by projections of fire on the
water curtain and images of fire on the video screens next to the
stage. | The
costumes in the show were designed primarily by Sue Lecash, who
studied African costumes and traditions in great depth to achieve
the correct look for each of the characters. Each season,
when new performers join the talented team, many small alterations
are made to the costumes to make them easier to work with as well
as newer and fresher for the performers. 118 animal
headdresses were created for the show. | Great
effort was put into differentiating the show from earlier
presentations of Disney’s The Lion King. The result is an
exciting, lively and spectacular stage musical that is fresh and
new but still close to the great legend it celebrates. | | |
