Lion King Trimmed Down in London Pre-Broadway???

Hands up which beady-eyed Lion King fans noticed the recent changes to the show? According to Variety, the Disney long-runner has cut nine minutes off the running time of productions worldwide – and a representative of the London run told Whatsonstage.com the changes were made here back in May, before they reached the Broadway production. Disney’s Thomas Schumacher told Variety, “We believe that the careful stewardship of our titles is at least partly responsible for their continued success.” The most noticeable change is the cutting of Zazu’s song “The Morning Report”.