Marina Bay Sands - The Lion King theatre

The main reason why I was in Marina Bay Sands was to go on behalf of Places and Foods to the press conference of 'The Lion King' theater at the brand-new Sands Theater together with Yat. I was ecstatic as it would be my very first time previewing (ni baru preview eh, belum full show lagi) an internationally acclaimed theater and I fell in love instantly (counts cash to buy tickets for next year's show).

Half of the reps from Malaysia - En. Kamarul from Astro Awani, Mrs Hizreen from NST, Carol Chan the PR and the rest were also such a wonderful team of media. They made such a cool bunch I wish all of us would meet up for a trip again!  =D

Upon entry to the theater hall we were greeted with LCD tellies showing snippets and highlights of the show, then at the waiting hall, miniature puppets of the characters and boards of facts regarding the show. It was definitely an interesting read as 'The Lion King' theater production has such an elaborated and complex history to it, which makes it unique yet the concept is very easy to grasp.

Media from all around the world, especially Southeast Asia gathered in one hall to witness the unveiling of Asia's first Lion King production, a sneak peek towards a great show (yes, I am serious about this).

excuse the morning camwhoring. Btw, all of these photos were taken using a Samsung ST600

Mr Stephen Crocker, the rep from Disney was demonstrating and telling us the extensive history of the Lion King theatrical production and oh boy, what a story. The Lion King isn't merely a theater production. The story behind it, the process it took and the ideas that came along with it was just astounding. From the music score, the details of the costumes, the stage set, the songs. Everything was customized to the T so that it'll be one-of-a-kind.

*remember that song 'can you feel the love tonight?"*

They did not use props on the set as actors were props themselves. For instance, in the sketch below, are the bushes which will be on the actors' head itself.

And this is how it'd look like on stage

So basically, the stage set is simple and serves to just give the mood or vibe while the important part are the actors themselves which tells every bit of the story.

Director, Julie Taymor, the brainchild behind the whole theatrical idea for The Lion King, was determined to emphasise the 'theatrical' aspect in the stage version of The Lion King. She chose to allow ropes, pulleys and wires that creates the effect to be seen by the audience. The human actors, which portray the animal characters are clearly visible beneath their costumes and masks - means their faces are not hidden. She believes that when special effects are hidden, audience is passive but by revealing the inner workings of its magic, the audience members will be using their own imaginations to fill in the blanks.

In each instance, Taymor and the mask and puppet co-designer, Michael Curry, chose the theatrical technique to represent each animal - includes forms of Japanese Bunraku puppetry and Balinese shadow puppetry, Wayang Kulit.

F.Y.I - The masks were created from scratch by Taymor herself using carbon fibre products. Costumes were made out of natural things such as fishbones, There are over 25 different kinds of animals, birds, fish and insect represented in the show. The tallest animals are the giraffes which are 5.5m

The three main cast that were there during the press conference - Naala, Simba and Rafiki

And finally, it's time for meet and greet with the key people behind the production - the actors, Stephen Crocker and also the company that brought in the production into Singapore, BASE Entertainment.

And I got a picture with them!

As mentioned earlier, Taymor and her team met the challenge of bringing the animal characters to life on stage through masks. Together, they created them to not hide the actor and actresses' facial expressions so that the audience would see both mask and the actors' expression. Taymor calls this mixture as a 'Double Event'

This ominous mask for the character of Scar, made out of Carbon Graphite weighs only 9 ounces.

Although painted to look like wood, the masks are made of carbon fibre - strong but lightweight. All of the masks are moulds of Taymor's original sculptings. It took 17 000 hours to build the puppets and masks, 91.4m of carbon fibre used and 340kg of silicone rubber too!

F.Y.I - Mufasa and Scar's masks are designed to reflect nature of their characters - Scar's is off-centre and dangerous while Mufasa's is round and serene, with a mane radiating out like rays of light.

Watch this video to see how they adapted the movie to the stage:

Oh, that's not the actor. It's just Encik JenkinYat he he

I'll leave you with trailers of the show, ones that made my goosebumps appear and trust me, I saw a snippet of it live, and I seriously am considering of going when it starts.

For more info please click here

For packages that includes Marina Bay Sands room click here

HAKUNA MATATA!