I've also included a snippet from a conversation I had with the tour's head carpenter at the time, Billy Kimbley, as the show was loading into DPAC a few days before the run began.īen Lipitz's previous stage credits included RED, HOT, AND BLUE (Goodspeed Opera, Papermill Playhouse) JUST SO (Goodspeed Opera) ART DIRTY BLONDE LAUGHTER ON THE 23RD FLOOR A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM Cleveland Playhouse, Kennedy Center, Walnut St. So what I decided to do is share with all of you the aforementioned interview. Ben recently passed away on April 18th at the age of 58.

At the time, he was in the show as Pumbaa, a part he played for more than 6,000 performances through both the tour and Broadway productions. Prior to that, I was able to interview actor Ben Lipitz for BroadwayWorld by phone. The cast of the West End production were invited to perform at the Royal Variety Performance 2008 at the London Palladium on December 11, in the presence of senior members of the British Royal Family.Back in 2016, the national tour of THE LION KING played a month-long engagement at the Durham Performing Arts Center in Durham, North Carolina. The show debuted in the West End's Lyceum Theatre on Octoand is still running. It is now Broadway's ninth longest-running show in history. On June 13, 2006, the Broadway production moved to the Minskoff Theatre to make way for the musical version of Mary Poppins, where it is still running. The musical debuted July 8, 1997, in Minneapolis, Minnesota at the Orpheum Theatre, and was an instant success before premiering on Broadway at the New Amsterdam Theater on Octoin previews with the official opening on November 13, 1997.

The show is produced by Disney Theatrical.

Directed by Julie Taymor, the musical features actors in animal costumes as well as giant, hollow puppets. The Lion King is a musical based on the 1994 Disney animated film of the same name with music by Elton John and lyrics by Tim Rice along with the musical score created by Hans Zimmer with choral arrangements by Lebo M.

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