PLAYS 7,000th PERFORMANCE
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3rd AT 7:00PM
Disney’s landmark musical event, THE LION KING, will play its 7,000th Broadway performance at 7:00pm on Wednesday, September 3rd. Only three shows in Broadway history have reached this milestone.
As it approaches its 17th anniversary on Broadway, THE LION KING finds itself in a position unprecedented in the history of Broadway. Already the highest-grossing show in Broadway history, the show was the highest-grossing of 2013 and is routinely the #1 Broadway show in a given week, a feat previously unimaginable for a show at this stage in its life.
Rafiki (Nteliseng Nkhela) visited the New York Stock Exchange this morning to ring The Opening Bell in celebration of the Broadway milestone
. Nteliseng Nkhela, Rafiki in Disney’s landmark musical event, THE LION KING on Broadway, rings the NYSE Opening Bell® at The New York Stock Exchange
on August 29, 2014 in New York City. (Photo by Josh Kuckens/NYSE)
THE LION KING was the first show in Broadway history to pass $1 billion in cumulative gross, a threshold also crossed by the North American tour and most recently the Hamburg production.
There are ten concurrent worldwide productions of THE LION KING, the highest number of productions running at any one time in the show’s history. Five of those productions have been running for 10 years or longer, an accomplishment shared by only one other show in history. Two new productions have recently been announced for Mexico City’s Telcel Theatre and the new Walt Disney Grand Theatre at Shanghai Disney Resort.
Jeffrey Kuhn Photo by Joan Marcus Copyright 2014 Disney Enterprises All rights reserved
Among the most successful titles in entertainment history, THE LION KING‘s worldwide footprint is remarkable. With a cumulative gross approaching $6 billion, the title has already earned more than the biggest hit films in movie history: more than the Lord of the Rings trilogy combined, more than all 23 James Bond films combined, and more than Avatar and Titanic, the two highest-grossing films in movie history, combined.
Gareth Saxe and Alton Fitzgerald White Photo by Joan Marcus Copyright 2014 Disney Enterprises All rights reserved
Since its Broadway premiere on November 13, 1997, 22 global productions have been seen by more than 75 million people and, cumulatively, run a staggering 112 years. Translated into eight different languages (Japanese, German, Korean, French, Dutch, Mandarin, Spanish and Portuguese), productions of THE LION KING can currently be seen on Broadway and on tour across North America, in Tokyo and on tour in Japan, in London’s West End and on tour throughout the UK, and in Hamburg, Madrid, Sao Paolo, and on tour in Australia. To date, THE LION KING has played 21 countries on every continent except Antarctica.
Gareth Saxe Photo by Joan Marcus Copyright 2014 Disney Enterprises All rights reserved
The show’s director, costume designer and mask co-designer Julie Taymor, the first woman to win a Tony Award® for Direction of a Musical, continues to play an integral part in the show’s ongoing success.
Produced by Disney Theatrical Productions, THE LION KING is playing at Broadway’s Minskoff Theatre (200 West 45th Street). For tickets, show information and performance schedule, call Ticketmaster’s Disney on Broadway hotline at 866-870-2717 or visit online, LionKing.com.