I just got a playbill from Lion King and noticed Morning Report was no longer in the show along with Rafiki Mourns did they cut both of those songs and if they did, does anyone know why? Thanks so much!
I saw The Lion King about 4 years ago, and I had the same confusion. I looked into it at the time, and discovered that in 2010, they made several cuts to the show. Apparently, it was simply a creative decision to make the show a little tighter.
The images on PlaybillVault.com appear to be from the opening night Playbill (though the site header says opening at the Minskoff, it's clear based on the cast list that it was from the opening at the New Amsterdam). In that one "Rafiki Mourns" is not listed, so I'm guessing it's never been included as a song in the Playbill listing, and I haven't heard any reports that ever mentioned that sequence getting cut.