Writers bring movie cred to reshaping 'Lion King' for the stage

Roger Allers and Irene Mecchi probably were the go-to people when it came to transferring the hugely successful animated film "The Lion King" to the stage.

After all, Allers and Rob Minkoff directed the 1994 film and Mecchi was one of the screenwriters.

But they didn’t see what was coming when director Julie Taymor, who had been tapped by Disney Theatrical Productions to convert the movie into a Broadway musical, invited them to lunch to pick their brains.

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“I had no idea it would go beyond that,” Mecchi said.

“We were working with her on the story, just to show her how the whole thing came together,” Allers said. “We’d improvise some scenes. Irene would be Simba and I would be Scar.”

After watching the Allers and Mecchi show, Taymor said: “You guys have all the characters in your heads. Why am I getting someone else to write this?’”

Before they knew it, they were in charge of writing the book for the musical that will bound into the Kravis Center on Wednesday for a 12-day stay.

Measured by its worldwide gross, the musical, which has been playing for 21 years on Broadway and spawned 25 global productions, is the most successful entertainment title in history.

But that wasn’t a given when Disney announced it was adapting the film for Broadway.

The film’s team was skeptical.

“They were doing 'Beauty and the Beast' at the time,” Allers said. “All we could think of was people dressed up in fuzzy animal suits.”

Instead, Taymor re-imagined the story as an African culture-steeped spectacle brought to life with puppetry and masks.

The score, which featured songs by Elton John and Tim Rice and additional music by Hans Zimmer, was plumped up with new songs by John and Rice and additional music. Garth Fagan created the choreography.

In case you’re not familiar with the story, the lion princeling Simba flees the kingdom when his uncle Scar, who covets the throne, tricks him into causing the death of his father, King Mufasa.

Simba grows up in exile, befriended by the meerkat Timon and the warthog Pumbaa. Eventually, he overcomes his guilt and returns to overthrow Scar, who has ravaged the kingdom with his hyena allies, and assumes his rightful place as king.

Mecchi and Allers were able to lift much of the dialogue from the movie. But they also added several scenes to the 2 1/2-hour musical, which is an hour longer than the movie.

The writers viewed the longer length as a golden opportunity. “We had to keep all the Disney animated features down to about 80 minutes because the studio couldn’t finance more,” said Allers, whose Disney credits include the animated features "Aladdin," "Beauty and the Beast" and "The Little Mermaid."

“There were moments in the movie we’d always wanted to open up but we didn’t have the time,” said Mecchi, whose other Disney projects include "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" and "Hercules."

Working with Taymor, the artistic team fleshed out the story with additional dialogue and well as dance and new songs that deepened the plot and enriched the characters.

Among the biggest changes Taymor made was to give female characters more stage time and cast a woman as the mandrill shaman Rafiki, voiced by a man in the movie.

For example, the lionesses are center stage in the scene in which Mufasa’s subjects mourn his death with a traditional South African chant. Simba’s childhood friend and future mate Nala has a new scene in which she rejects the advances of the usurper Scar.

When more time was needed to set up the stampede that kills Mufasa, Mecchi and Allers wrote a new scene in which Zazu, Mufasa’s hornbill adviser, apologizes to Mufasa for failing to keep Simba and Nala safe from another of Scar’s plots.

Neither Mecchi nor Allers had written a Broadway musical before, but their work on Disney’s animated film musicals was good preparation, they said.

Understandably, they were pleased with the result. “The Broadway show is so colorful, life-affirming and joyful,” Allers said. “It’s nice for audiences to have an experience like that.”

Meanwhile, as the Broadway show chugs along, Disney is scheduled to release a live-action remake of the film in July.

Watch a trailer for the new movie here.

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jsjostrom@pbdailynews.com