Backstage at 'The Lion King' Musical

What's up guys? Leslie Robbins here for Young Hollywood back at the Pantages Theater. I'm about to take you on a one of a kind backstage tour of Disney's The Lion King, and let me tell you, it is unlike anything you have ever seen. Billy, you are the head carpenter, that means you are in charge of all things on the stage, especially Pride Rock behind us.

Yes, yes. Uh, Pride Rock is our centerpiece of the show. It's about 18 and a half feet long. It's about 12 feet tall. It weighs about 8,000 pounds when it's all put together. So, of course, we can't move a piece of scenery like that by hand, so we have to use automation or an automated effect to be able to move it. Uh, and when not controlled by our automation computers, it can actually be controlled by this handheld component right here.

I won't touch.

Are you sure? You want me to hold it? I can teach you how to run it if you want to.

Let's try. All right. There you go. Slow down. Woo! I'm crashing into Pride Rock right now.

Not yet, but you're close.

You mentioned Circle of Life position, it's a circle. Most things on this stage in the show are circles.

Well, it's a big part of the, um, theory behind the show and why it works so well. Uh, it does introduce the Circle of Life from life to death and passed on from parent to children.

Now, I saw the show. It was just beautiful and moving. Most of the characters go up Pride Rock.

They do, they do go up Pride Rock. It's sort of a special trip to be able to make it up Pride Rock the first time. And if you're up for it, I think we can try.

I'm ready.

Yeah. Let's go over here to Pride Rock and see what we can do. Now, when you get all the way to the top, you have to put your hands both in the air, just like you're holding young Simba.

I feel like Mufasa or Simba. Oh, wow. All alone and then everyone steps back. And then I hold the baby.

Why don't you do a pose with me? Ready? We're holding the baby. Are you ready?

Okay, I have changed out of my dress. I am ready to dance.

All right, are you warmed up? Are you ready to dance?

I I well, I'm wearing The Lion King T-shirt. That's a perfect.

That's perfect. You're going to be part of our an honorary dancing lioness today.

I'm very excited.

Excellent, we're excited to show you.

Is there any specific stretches I need to do before I start?

I think maybe let's do some shoulder rolls and some head rolls and just kind of get your feet warmed up. We may do some get your ankles warm. All right, there's one stretch we want you to try to get your back warmed up. Okay. And Aaron's going to show us show us how to do it. So, what are you going to do?

So we're going to arch our lower back over. Okay. To get your feet off. And then just balance until you're comfortable there.

Nice. Okay, you're going to spot me? We're going to try it.

Yeah, you got it. You feel, feel. Yep, perfect.

Oh my god. Now what?

Reach for your feet. Yes. Two.

Oh my god. Natural.

Kenny, you are the production stage manager. That means you are in charge of all of this ridiculousness backstage.

Absolutely. Um, I kind of liken my job to an air traffic controller. Um, so making sure everybody gets where they need to go safely without running into each other. So, where we tell the story never changes, you know, where Pride Rock is, you know, where Simba becomes king. What changes is the rest of the building. Right. So, sometimes we'll have lots of room over here and we'll have no room up there or or vice versa. Sometimes the dressing rooms will be in the basement for the performers, sometimes it'll be up four flights of stairs. So, that's what keeps us on our toes as we travel across the country. Um, but we know that we always have up. So, therefore, if you look above us, you'll see everything from uh, some some wildebeest to an ostrich to uh, to the elephant graveyard, our scary setting for Scar. Um, to some of uh, Julie Taymor's brilliant creations over here, the zebras, the rhinoceros, the wildebeest.

Must give a shout out to Julie Taymor.

Julie Taymor, genius. A true genius behind the show. Absolutely.

Now, you were talking about traveling across the country. How many trucks does it take to carry an entire production like this? 'Cause I saw it and it's just massive.

Um, 18 tractor trailers. So, the semis you see on the freeway, 18 of those, um, and that travels everything that you see, the floor, all the lighting equipment above us, all the sound equipment, all the costumes, all the puppets. Now what's interesting about our show is all that stuff I just talked about, we've got two of. So, that means that in year 12 of our touring the country, we don't need to take a week off. We can keep performing the show. So, we'll we're performing our last week in a city. We have another crew who is building another set that looks just like this one in the next theater. So, that's kind of a a really unique part of this. And it, you know, and and it helps, you know, keep the momentum and keeps the show moving.

Well, let's move around the stage.

Absolutely. So, this, which uh, which our female dancers carry, um, looks like it could be a very heavy thing to deal with, and yet you can probably hold that with one finger. Very light. So, this goes on the head.

Yes, this is a head. And then you have, if you want to pick up that guy right there. Okay. He would be on I trust me? I do trust you. Okay. He would be on your arm. Uh, your left arm. Left arm. So, one in there. Okay. One on your head, and then you'd have another one in your right arm. We don't. And you and now you have to dance. Now, who's this little guy?

Oh, well, that would be uh, that would be uh, one version of young Simba. The little Simba. And this is where he runs through the grass. Again, it's one of Julie's concepts of the different perspectives we get. And you can see him running there.

So, you're going to sit back, feet together, hands just below your waist, and like you're about to sit down in a chair, you're going to be at a 45 degree angle. You're going to take your right foot back first, and you're going to shoulder roll with your foot, and then you're going to look to the left. So, here we go. We're going to go one and you two, three, four. And now you're going to repeat that, step onto your right foot, and you're going to do it with the left foot. Five, six, seven, eight. Another time with the right foot. One, two, three, four. Again, five, six, seven, eight. And you're going to do, uh, sorry. One, two, and three. Hold four. Rande Jom. Five, six, seven, eight. You're going to go forward and stay low. One, and two. And your hands are going to be in claws. That's our our club coming out. And now we're going to do a single pencil turn. So, we're going to turn to our right. And your foot's going to come in. Perfect. So, uh, pencil turn. And now we're going to do jump up and over. Knees together. And now knees are going to come into second. And your arms come to the side. And now you're going to contract forward. Exactly. But a little bit bigger. Come up and over. That's it. So, higher. That's it. And then contract a little bit. That's it. Good. Good. Woo.

Now I am in your home on the stage. This is amazing back here.

Yeah, welcome to the bunker. This is where it all happens as far as costume changes for the show. And um, everything is choreographed like it's choreographed on stage. Everything is choreographed back here.

I see racks and racks and racks. How many pieces of wardrobe over here?

We in the in the show every night, there's 250 pieces. We travel with 350. There's eight swings just in case somebody get injured or there's um emergencies where they have to go out of the show.

Now, is it a myth that after every time someone wears a piece of wardrobe, it has to be washed?

Uh, union rules. Anything that touches their skin has to be washed every night.

Yeah. So, all of this has to be washed every night?

Not everything touches their skin. We have um, T-shirts that they wear. So, we it's a layer in between some of the costumes. So, some of my favorite costumes. This is one of the jungle dresses. One of the pa dresses. And this is when um, Nala and Simba reunite and he takes her to this beautiful lush place. This is what we call it a puppeteer. Whenever they're working puppets or anything, they wear something like this. These are in style right now. You know that, right? They are. They are. They are. And then they just have the little crossover there. That's all that's missing. A dancer would wear this to open up the second act. This will be a little top. Cute. And then the dancers have them pants and little skirts to go to it. And all of them have matching hats to go with it. And you know, you're a dancing lioness. Minus the pants and the leotard.

All right, here we go. And one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight. One, two, and three. Hold four, five, six, seven, eight.

One, and two, three, four, and five, and six, seven, and eight. Excellent. You fit right in. Wow, you're a good girl. Yeah.