Lion King Tour Update?- Page 2

[wicked4l]

Posted: 4/12/18 at 9:48am

The tours never had anything come out of the floor other than the inflatable plants. Pride Rock tracked on from the wings.

[lightguy06222]

Posted: 4/12/18 at 9:56am

sorry wicked4l but youre incorrect, and thats why the tour was scaled down.

 

The 1st National Tour of the Lion King was pretty much a replica of the original.  

I saw it in Los Angeles at the Pantages Theatre MANY years ago. It had all the traps that broadway had.  Pride Rock appearing from the stage was an incredible sight.  The way it rotates up into place, it was magic.

But only certain venues across the country can handle the technical needs.  THATS why it was scaled down. So it could fit in more "2nd tier" venues across the country.

But the 1st national, which went to the major cities after an extended sit down in Los Angeles, had all the big moving parts.

[lightguy06222]

Posted: 4/12/18 at 9:58am

double post

Updated On: 4/12/18 at 09:58 AM

[Justin D]

Posted: 4/12/18 at 11:01am

I remember when they premiered the toronto production they said that would be the template for the tours, with tracking pride rock and the 2 large tusks being flat objects and not 3D. Toronto did have the main traps for the Grasslands though, because they had to loose some substage dressing room space for those.

 

But from what I've seen on instagram, the show looks the same, just smaller. the only cut that I don't really understand (it was cut on the tour before as well) is the raised stage section. I thought it helped with the perspective and gave some scenes an added punch (endless night for example)

[wicked4l]

Posted: 4/12/18 at 11:04am

lightguy06222, the Los Angeles sit-down ran from 2000-2003 and was completely separate from the 1st National tour which launched in 2002.

[lightguy06222]

Posted: 4/12/18 at 11:40am

http://www.playbill.com/article/casting-and-venues-announced-for-the-lion-kings-first-national-tour-com-104741

they closed the LA production at the end of 2002, and moved it to CHICAGO where it was a "sit down production" for almost a year.

The tour started in 2002 In Denver, and I am WRONG pride rock definitely entered upstage left.  I guess the new tour scaled down further and cut the actor traps as well

Updated On: 4/12/18 at 11:40 AM

[dmwnc1959]

Posted: 4/12/18 at 5:14pm

lightguy06222 said: "In my understanding.... In this scaled down production, I believe nothing actually comes out of the floor. They redesigned the set to be able to fit into venues that do NOT have trap rooms......

dmwnc1959Can you confirm??

Originally, PRIDE ROCK came rotating out of the stage floor. Also in "GRASSLAND CHANT". The actors with grass headpieces came up through a lift in the deck. And other elements (inflating cactuses and plants) also came from the deck. These pieces might still be used and not redesigned. but the major full stage lifts are cut I believe."

 

When I saw the National Tour in Baltimore this past December nothing came up out of the stage, either in the Pride Rock scenes or the Grassland Chant. I still enjoyed the show tremendously. 

Updated On: 4/12/18 at 05:14 PM

[kade.ivy]

Posted: 4/12/18 at 5:47pm

I saw the Gazelle tour in 2006 and two times following and neither time did Pride Rock or the grasslands come out of traps. Allegedly this redesign was mainly mechanical.

[trpguyy]

Posted: 4/12/18 at 8:52pm

None of the tours (Cheetah, Gazelle, and now Rafiki) utilized traps, and Pride Rock always tracked on and off stage, never from the floor.

Unless you're extremely familiar with the show, you won't notice a difference in physical production between Rafiki and the previous tours.

[bowtie7]

Posted: 4/15/18 at 9:29am

Link to video of the finale from the original national tour with pride rock tracking on stage but with the raked stage deck.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TY5NaBNuDTs

Can anyone confirm that a part of the stage deck no longer raises for the raked effect?

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 4/15/18 at 10:45am

bowtie7 said: "Link to video of the finale from the original national tour with pride rock tracking on stage but with the raked stage deck.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TY5NaBNuDTs

Can anyone confirm that a part of the stage deck no longer raises for the raked effect?"

 

^ I can definitely confirm that the deck no longer raised for the raked effect.

 

[Tag]

Posted: 4/15/18 at 10:55am

Lots of false info in this thread.  As stated the national tours (all of them) NEVER had anything raise from the traps, but DID have the plants inflate from the deck and DID have the stage rake and unrake.  Sit-down productions (like LA and Toronto in the early 2000s, DID have Pride Rock come out of the stage, amoung other things).

[Luminaire2]

Posted: 4/15/18 at 11:20am

Tag said: "Lots of false info in this thread. As stated the national tours (all of them) NEVER had anything raise from the traps, but DID have the plants inflate from the deck and DID have the stage rake and unrake. Sit-down productions (like LA and Toronto in the early 2000s, DID have Pride Rock come out of the stage, amoung other things)."

I don’t recall the stage raking and unraking both times I saw it in Vancouver years ago. Did that change happen before this current tour? 

[Tag]

Posted: 4/15/18 at 11:46am

The Gazelle tour that played Van in 2010 and 2015 should have had the rake, but I guess it's possible that it didn't.  The show had a jump set (2 stage decks) where one would preload into a theatre while the other was still being used in another city.  Maybe one raked and one didn't?  Not sure.

[dmwnc1959]

Posted: 4/15/18 at 6:23pm

Tag said: "Lots of false info in this thread. As stated the national tours (all of them) NEVER had anything raise from the traps, but DID have the plants inflate from the deck and DID have the stage rake and unrake. Sit-down productions (like LA and Toronto in the early 2000s, DID have Pride Rock come out of the stage, amoung other things)."

Luminaire2 said: “I don’t recall the stage raking and unraking both times I saw it in Vancouver years ago. Did that change happen before this current tour?"

 

I don’t recall it doing that (stage raking) either for the tour when I saw it in Baltimore.

Also, if you’re referring to “plants inflating from the deck” was for the “Grasslands Chant” that didn’t happen either. As I recall, they still wore the headpieces, but came in from the sides and back of the stage. 

 

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 4/15/18 at 7:04pm

^pretty sure the part where plants inflate from the deck is before hakuna matada.

I believe I read the rake was only on the cheetah tour or maybe it was when the cheetah tour closed they removed the rake.

Updated On: 4/15/18 at 07:04 PM

[dmwnc1959]

Posted: 4/15/18 at 7:16pm

Call_me_jorge said: "^pretty sure the part where plants inflate from the deck is before baking matata."

Ah, Hakuna Matada. That I do remember. 

[whowhatwhenwhere97]

Posted: 4/16/18 at 12:51am

bowtie7 said: "Link to video of the finale from the original national tour with pride rock tracking on stage but with the raked stage deck.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TY5NaBNuDTs

Can anyone confirm that a part of the stage deck no longer raises for the raked effect?"

The video in that link is from the Australian production in 2013-16, which still utilised the raked stage. The tours haven't used a raked stage since the mid to late 2000's as was too complicated to load in and maintain. The tour has been a completely flat stage for quite some time, even before they reduced to just a single tour from the double tour format. I believe It was around the time that they also cut the flying sequence in "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" and morning report.

[Tag]

Posted: 4/16/18 at 8:28am

^I 100% saw the raked stage on tour in 2014 (last time I saw it).

[Justin D]

Posted: 4/16/18 at 8:48am

Tag said: "Lots of false info in this thread. As stated the national tours (all of them) NEVER had anything raise from the traps, but DID have the plants inflate from the deck and DID have the stage rake and unrake. Sit-down productions (like LA and Toronto in the early 2000s, DID have Pride Rock come out of the stage, amoung other things)."

Toronto was the first production to NOT have priderock come out of the stage, what they build went on to become the template for the tracking on pride rock for future tours (and some international sit-downs that did not use the substage pride rock either)

[Babe_Williams]

Posted: 7/11/18 at 11:14pm

I just saw this. Not having seen it on Broadway or in another tour, I had nothing to compare it to. Its definitely different than any musical I have seen before in that there is so much going on stage and the costumes and puppetry are really amazing. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would and the actors did a great job. That said, there were a few parts where I felt like the staging seemed kind of cheap? The inflatables and at the end when you could really see Pride Rock, it sort of looked like painted particle board. But overall, everything it was a great night!

[tourboi]

Posted: 7/11/18 at 11:32pm

Justin D said: "Tag said: "Lots of false info in this thread. As stated the national tours (all of them) NEVER had anything raise from the traps, but DID have the plants inflate from the deck and DID have the stage rake and unrake. Sit-down productions (like LA and Toronto in the early 2000s, DID have Pride Rock come out of the stage, amoung other things)."

Toronto was the first production to NOT have priderock come out of the stage, what they build went on to become the template for the tracking on pride rock for future tours (and some international sit-downs that did not use the substage pride rock either)"

Im with Tag on this one. I remember pride rock coming from the stage, not the wings in the Toronto sit down. 

 

[Justin D]

Posted: 7/12/18 at 8:34am

Well, I went backstage a few times, and saw it tucked away in the corner, if you can find Toronto photos (there aren't many) you can see the pride rock uses the stepped design (looks like a bunch of steps) not a sloping design, this is for it to straighten out when it tracks off stage, they even showed me the tracks and the mechanism that changes tracks for when it goes from going around in a circle to going straight offstage

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 7/12/18 at 11:13am

This is how Pride Rock made/makes its entrance on tour.  Its still a beautiful entrance so its not just a large solid set piece being rolled on from the wings.

The footage starts at the 6:20 mark: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4Y4DrufC9o

 

[Justin D]

Posted: 7/12/18 at 11:52am

yup, that's what Toronto had, they were the 'prototype' for the tours (as I was told by the ASM)