Photos: Cameron & Co Celebrate Lion King Tenth

Other attendees included 250 former cast members of the show, the original creative team including director Julie Taymor (who joined the cast on stage at the end of the performance), and myriad celebrities including Greg Wise, Donna Air, Gok Wan, Justin Lee Collins, Lisa Snowdon, Phylicia Rashad, Debbie Allen, Fay Ripley, Beverley Knight, Natasha Hamilton, Shaznay Lewis and James Earl Jones, who voiced the character of Mufasa in Disney’s original 1994 animated film (See News, 14 Oct 2009).

TO SCROLL THROUGH ALL OF THE LION KING’s GALA PHOTOS,
JUST CLICK ON THE “NEXT >” LINKS BELOW THE FOLLOWING FRAME.
PHOTOS BY DAN WOOLLER FOR WHATSONSTAGE.COM.

The stage adaptation of The Lion King opened first on Broadway at the New Amsterdam Theatre in November 1997 before receiving its West End premiere at the Lyceum Theatre on 19 October 1999 (previews from 24 September). The musical is directed and designed by Julie Taymor, with choreography by Garth Fagan, costumes by Taymor, puppetry and masks by Taymor and Michael Curry and set design by Richard Hudson.

In the decade since it opened at the Lyceum, The Lion King, which is adapted from the Hamlet-inspired 1994 Disney animation, has been seen by over eight million people at over 4,200 performances in London, equalling an average attendance of 93% capacity, and has grossed in excess of £289 million at the box office. It now ranks among the top ten longest-running shows in West End history.