Word: disneyized
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...anyone who has seen The Lion King knows, Hakuna Matata means "no worries," but on this July afternoon in Minneapolis, Minn., director Julie Taymor has plenty of them. She is in rehearsals for her new stage version of Disney's animated film about Simba the lion cub and his struggle to take his rightful place as king of beasts. Her long, dark hair pulled back and an intense expression on her face, Taymor is trying to work out some kinks in the Hakuna Matata number, which ends the first act. The pop-up cactus plants need to inflate sooner...
Simba, I don't think we're in Disneyland anymore. Disney's first Broadway musical, Beauty and the Beast--based on the film and directed by a theme-park veteran, Rob Roth--was a traditional stage confection that came as close as possible to being a literal, three-dimensional re-creation of the movie. Yet to direct the stage version of The Lion King, the most successful movie in the company's history, Disney has hired someone who made her name in the avant-garde theater. It was a daring choice, for live theater has become an increasingly important part...
None of this fazes Taymor. "I told them I wanted to go for elegance, not cute," she says. "The Lion King is a very commercial work, but what they've let me do is very experimental. I was totally delighted and surprised." Tom Schumacher, Disney's executive vice president of theatrical productions, first encountered Taymor when he was a producer for the 1984 Olympics Arts Festival, where he hoped to put on a musical she had co-written. That didn't work out, but a decade later--after Taymor had won acclaim for her presentations of opera (Oedipus Rex), children...
...built some prototype puppets out of cardboard, showed them to Disney executives--including chairman Michael Eisner--and got the job. She not only directs the show but has also designed the costumes and (with Michael Curry) the masks and puppets. The Disney folks scoff at the notion that she was a risky choice. "I don't think the Julie part is the risk," says Peter Schneider, president of Disney animation and theatrical productions. "Putting The Lion King onstage is the risk." Schneider and Schumacher have both been looking over Taymor's shoulder in Minneapolis, watching rehearsals and consulting with...
...sound lapses in "Hamlet" (if there's anything that absolutely shouldn't have sound problems, it's a Shakespeare film). This is also not exactly paradise for people who hate crowds. To get a good seat, you need to come early and wait in a line reminiscent of a Disney World ride; but once seated, you need to wait until the theater is filled to capacity. The movie doesn't start until every seat is occupied...