“The Lion King” has been a dream show for W.F. West High School theater program manager Brian Adams to direct for about a decade, but with Disney’s copyrights limiting the show to students ninth grade and below, W.F. West couldn’t perform the show.
Until this year.
Disney recently changed its copyright rules to allow anyone 18 and younger to perform the hit musical, and Adams was quick to secure the script for W.F. West’s theater program.
“I said, ‘If I can get the rights, I’m going to do it,’ because I’ve wanted to do this for years but I couldn’t,” Adams said.
Adams fell in love with “The Lion King” while watching the Disney animated movie with his kids in the 90s.
“It was just always one of my favorites. And to be able to do it on stage, it’s like … ‘this is one that would be challenging yet so rewarding,’” he said.
The musical tells the story of the young lion prince, Simba (Jane Ricks and Hunter DeGravelles), who is destined to be king, until his power-hungry uncle Scar (Kody Paterson) enacts a plot to usurp the throne.
“This is the traditional ‘Lion King’ musical, the one that’s still touring on Broadway. It’s a little bit shortened just for the high school scene, but it’s still an hour and a half long and has all the great songs in it,” Adams said.
While W.F. West’s theater costumes are typically made by volunteers, the iconic mix of puppets, wood-carved masks and intricate costumes that are so integral to “The Lion King’s” popularity on Broadway were too difficult for the program's volunteers to make by hand, so the program rented the costumes from a company in Wisconsin.
Most of the actors play between two and four characters in the show, leading to difficult costume changes behind the scenes.
“The costumes are what makes this show,” Adams said. “The music, everyone knows the songs and they like that, but it’s the costuming (that makes this show).”
Fans of the animated movie will recognize many of the songs in the show, but there are some songs that are specific to the musical.
Many of the songs in the Broadway version of “The Lion King” are in African languages, including Swahili, Xhosa and Zulu, which the actors had to learn for the show.
“I’m really proud of them, because they spent so much time just learning the music, and it just makes the whole show,” Adams said. “We’re just really excited to do it and hopefully the community will love it.”
“The Lion King” runs Dec. 8-16, with shows at 7:30 p.m. on Fridays and at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on Saturdays. The show’s venue is the W.F. West High School theater, located at 342 SW 16th St. in Chehalis.
Tickets are $9 per person and can be purchased over the phone at 360-807-7235 or at the door.
Cast list
Rafiki: Grace Robison
Mufasa: Ammon Satterfield
Sarabi: Bell Taylor
Zazu: Charlotte Calway
Scar: Kody Paterson
Young Simba: Jane Ricks
Simba: Hunter DeGravelles
Young Nala: Savannah Schow
Nala: Mercedes Ricks
Sarafina: Alysha Quick
Shenzi: Layla Von Wald
Banzai: Hailey Sturdevant
Ed: Devan Cook
Timon: Ruby Stanton
Pumbaa: Ana Chisnell
Ensemble: Sylvina Keech
Ensemble: Zelda Keech
Ensemble: Illyana McLean
Ensemble: Milo Moody
Ensemble: Evelyn Ricks
Ensemble: Paige Ricks
Ensemble: Evelynn Satterfield
Ensemble: Alyssa Schow
Ensemble: Julia Slinger
