JUST CAN'T WAIT TO SEE ``KING''.Byline: Evan Henerson Staff Writer With a television camera zoomed in for a close-up, Jazmn Guy and Lisa Tucker Lisa Tucker is the name of many, including:
A peak, 2,308.5 m (7,569 ft) high, in the Sierra Nevada of central California. Its dramatic exposed monolith rises some 1,098 m (3,600 ft) above the floor of the Yosemite Valley. Entertainment Centre in Hollywood fell largely silent and producer Thomas Schumacher, his hands on the shoulders of director Julie Taymor, gave a little squeeze of excitement. Free advertising - the kind this mega-musical probably doesn't need. With apologies to Elton John Sir Elton Hercules[1] John CBE[2] (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight on 25 March, 1947) is a five-time Grammy and one-time Academy Award-winning English pop/rock singer, composer and pianist. , anyone care to join me in a chorus of ``Can you Feel the Product Being Teased''? On the same day a block of 50,000 new tickets (top price $127 for a VIP package) went on sale for the 8-month run at the Pantages Theatre There are multiple venues named the Pantages Theatre: Canada
``I guess this is to generate even more excitement,'' Taymor, the production's Tony winning director/costume designer, said of the rehearsal sneak peak. ``It's a whole new cast and it's exciting to say we're live people doing our live work now.'' Added John Vickery John Estill Vickery (born November 3 1950) is an American actor, perhaps best known to television audiences for his work in Babylon 5 and Star Trek. In Babylon 5, he played both Neroon and Mr. Welles. , who returns to play the villainous Scar, a role he created in the original Broadway production: ``I don't remember (the cast preview event) being quite that big. They tell me L.A. is chomping at the bit. We'll see.'' Chomping at the bit? Yathink? Carrying the kind of critical and word-of-mouth buzz that even Michael Eisner Michael Dammann Eisner (born March 7, 1942) was CEO of The Walt Disney Company from September 22, 1984 to September 30, 2005. Early life Michael Eisner was born to a wealthy family in Mt. Kisco, New York, and raised on Park Avenue in Manhattan. couldn't buy, ``The Lion King'' figures to be the must-see theatrical event of fall season. In addition to being in its third sold-out year at Broadway's New Amsterdam Theatre The New Amsterdam Theatre is a Broadway theatre located at 214 West 42nd Street in the heart of Times Square in New York City. It was built in 1903 by the partnership of impresarios A.L. Erlanger and Marcus Klaw and designed in the Art Nouveau style by architects Herts and Tallant. , this kingpin of Disney's theatrical division is also playing in Osaka, Tokyo, London and Toronto. The Pantages engagement, which starts previews Sept. 29, will be the first American production after New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of . More importantly, said Schumacher, it's finally happening in L.A., the spot where the animated Disney movie of the same name was born. ``For me, being an L.A. native and having my whole career here, bringing the show back is really sort of a homecoming for me,'' said Schumacher, the president of Disney's feature animation division and the co-chair of the Buena Vista Theatrical Group. ``Even Hollywood Boulevard. I sold ladies shoes down the street, and right outside the window, I could see the Pantages Theatre. Today we get to do a show there.'' And quite a show it promises to be. In bringing to the stage the tale of Simba the lion cub who would be king, Taymor had to figure out a way to bring the entire animal kingdom (no human characters, remember) to life without the use of ``puffy animal suits.'' Her solution was a blend of costumes and puppetry puppetry Art of creating and manipulating puppets in a theatrical show. Puppets are figures that are moved by human rather than mechanical aid. They may be controlled by one or several puppeteers, who are screened from the spectators. that left visible the human being pulling the strings or wearing the mask. By now, you've seen the pictures. Some actors are operating puppets or machinery. Others use mechanized mech·a·nize tr.v. mech·a·nized, mech·a·niz·ing, mech·a·niz·es 1. To equip with machinery: mechanize a factory. 2. masks. In most cases, Taymor said, the illusion is left to the audience's imagination. ``The mechanics are the art, and they are enjoyable to our audiences,'' said Taymor after an actor demonstrated the flight of three gazelles. ``You don't need to patronize pa·tron·ize tr.v. pa·tron·ized, pa·tron·iz·ing, pa·tron·iz·es 1. To act as a patron to; support or sponsor. 2. To go to as a customer, especially on a regular basis. 3. our audience. They'll use their imagination. They know (these) aren't real gazelles.'' ``Most of the actors who are in `The Lion King' have never held a puppet before,'' she added. ``So what we've done is cast tremendous actors with the right attitudes, actors who are into learning this technique.'' That was Vickery three years ago, when he joined the cast of the first production of ``The Lion King.'' ``I had worked with a mask before, but it had been years, and certainly not an electronic one,'' he said. ``So everything was sort of magic, and when you got in the middle of it, couldn't really see the forest for the trees Forest for the Trees was the brainchild of Carl Stephenson, an eclectic producer known for his work with Beck. Difficult to classify, Forest for the Trees is probably best described as experimental psychedelic trip-hop. . I was just trying to get from stage right to stage left without being killed.'' The cast includes Rufus Bonds (playing Mufasa), Fuschia Walker (Rafiki), Clifton Oliver (adult Simba), Moe Daniels (adult Nala), William Akey (Zazu), Bob Bouchard (Pumbaa) and Danny Rutigliano (Timon). Tickets are available at the Pantages Box office and through Ticketmaster. Call (213) 365-5555. CAPTION(S): 4 photos Photo: (1) A puppeteer shows off one of the characters from ``The Lion King,'' which makes its West Coast debut in October at the Pantages Theatre. (2) The producer: Thomas Schumacher (3) The director: Julie Taymor (4) The choreographer: Garth Fagan Eric Gregorian/Special to the Daily News |
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