When did the Lion King changes happen?

[JBroadway]

Posted: 10/9/14 at 5:55pm

I saw the Broadway production last week with some friends in from out of town, and I noticed there had been several changes from when I saw it many years ago. The dance sequence in Can You Feel the Love Tonight is gone, as is the Morning Report. Also smaller things, like the moment in the Madness of King Scar when he sees the shadow of Mufasa. I also seem to remember there being a moment when Simba starts to look at Timon like he might want to eat him. Wikipedia says that "The Morning Report" was cut in 2010. Is that when all the other changes happened? What other changes were there that I might not have noticed?

Updated On: 10/9/14 at 05:55 PM

[NoName3]

Posted: 10/9/14 at 6:06pm

The changes have been discussed here several times. Check out these threads among others:

https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.php?thread=1055626#4369300

https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.php?thread=1015619

https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.php?thread=1075539&PageSpeed=noscript

Updated On: 10/9/14 at 06:06 PM

[jpbran]

Posted: 10/9/14 at 6:06pm

The Wikipedia page says a total of 9 minutes were cut in 2010... Not sure what the others were, but "Morning Report" would have maybe been half of that?

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 10/9/14 at 6:07pm

The changes happened during one of the production delays for Spider-Man when they needed more money to continue and Julie got bored so she went in and messed with Lion King.

[JBroadway]

Posted: 10/9/14 at 7:41pm

Ah ok, I did a search but I guess I should have been more thorough. Thanks for the thread links.

[Fantod]

Posted: 10/9/14 at 8:04pm

I'm not sure if they've been cut since the show closed, but I remember Zazu had some lines mentioning Mary Poppins on Broadway that I found to be some of the funniest in the show when I saw it. Were these added then as well and have they since been removed?

Updated On: 10/9/14 at 08:04 PM

[Producer2]

Posted: 10/9/14 at 8:44pm

The grubs are gone!!!!!!!

[JBroadway]

Posted: 10/9/14 at 10:02pm

There were no lines about Mary Poppins.

However, now when Scar asks Zazu to "sing something else" he sing Let it Go, much to the audience's delight.

[Fantod]

Posted: 10/9/14 at 10:10pm

JBroadway, when I saw the show in February of 2012, Zazu had a line at some point when he suffering from Young Simba and Young Nala that: "this would never happen to me in Mary Poppins!" and at another point in the show, he starting singing Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 10/10/14 at 9:51am

The little snippet Zazu sings in that moment with Scar is constantly changing to keep the joke fresh.

[Elfuhbuh]

Posted: 10/10/14 at 10:44am

"JBroadway, when I saw the show in February of 2012, Zazu had a line at some point when he suffering from Young Simba and Young Nala that: 'this would never happen to me in Mary Poppins!' and at another point in the show, he starting singing Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious."

I don't remember the Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious bit, but Zazu did indeed say the Mary Poppins line when I saw the tour a couple years ago. I'm assuming that the tour and the Broadway production are more or less the same entity in terms of script changes.

[kade.ivy]

Posted: 10/10/14 at 10:52am

When I saw the tour last year, "Morning Report" was indeed cut, the "Can You Feel the Love" dance sequence was either gone or much shorter (can't remember for sure, just remember that song being shorter), and I think "Madness of KIng Scar" was shorter.

However, the grubs were still there best I can remember.

Zazu still sang "It's a Small World" when Scar held him captive.

[JBroadway]

Posted: 10/10/14 at 11:27am

The line they have now, instead of that Mary Poppins line is "this wasn't in the cartoon" which I personally don't like. I also don't like Zazu's line at the end of I Just Can't Wait where he looks at the curtain and says "it looks like a shower curtain from Ikea." I also really hate that line. It's WAY too "look how funny we are for making a modern reference." Both of those lines feel out of place to me in a not-funny way.

[kade.ivy]

Posted: 10/10/14 at 12:39pm

"This wasn't in the cartoon" has been in the show as early as 2006, when I first saw the show.

[meyerd584]

Posted: 10/11/14 at 1:26am

It's also included in my copy of the press reel from when it opened.
So...it's not so modern.

[JBroadway]

Posted: 10/11/14 at 11:08am

I'm sorry I was unclear. What I meant when I said it was a modern reference was not that it was a topical 2014 reference, but rather a reference to a "cartoon" is modern considering these are animals in Africa.

I guess I should say it was too much of a "self aware" joke, rather than a modern reference. In any case, the point is I didn't find it to be funny. Updated On: 10/11/14 at 11:08 AM