Productions United States First Lady Michelle Obama joins the cast of the U.S. touring company onstage after their performance at the Kids' State Dinner in the East Room of the White House Ntomb'Khona Dlamini is the actress who served as an understudy or ensemble member for the longest time. She was in the original Broadway company as an understudy to Tsidi LeLoka. After leaving for a brief time between 2000 and 2001, she went on to perform in the American tours. Summing up all this time, she's been in the show for more than 15 years, finally leaving the company in 2013. In this release, the Mexican Spanish versions of Simba Confronts Scar and Circle of Life (Reprise) were comprised into a single song, this version being named Confrontación/Finale. It also includes the song which Timon sings to fool the hyenas, which was recorded in the studio and added to the cast album.

Affectionately dubbed "Hamlet with fur", we follow the trials of a young lion prince called Simba, who one day is destined to rule over the sun-drenched Pride Lands, as the Lion King. After the murder of his father by his treacherous uncle, Scar, Simba is convinced of his own guilt in this, and runs away from his pride, in self-imposed exile. Can You Feel the Love Tonight" – Heather Headley, Jason Raize, Max Casella, The Lion King Ensemble and Tom Alan Robbins A Los Angeles production began performances at the Pantages Theatre on September 29, 2000, with an official opening on October 19, 2000. The show closed on January 12, 2003, after 952 performances. The cast of this production performed a set of the show's songs in The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on October 2, 2001. The cast was led by Fuschia Walker. [ citation needed] Canada Segura is followed by Bonita J. Hamilton and James Brown-Orleans, who have been performing as hyenas Shenzi and Banzai for more than 5 years.THE LION KING Becomes 3rd-Longest Running Broadway Show of All Time; Passes CATS". Broadway World. October 31, 2015 . Retrieved October 31, 2015.

As of June 27, 2010, nine minutes of the Broadway version were cut, among them the entire "Morning Report" musical number. [21] The song was also removed from subsequent productions and cast recordings, such as the Spanish one.Having been in the show since its 1997 premiere, actress Lindiwe Dlamini is the actress who's been for more time in the show. She's followed by Joachim Benoit, who's been regularly performing as Zazu since the show premiered in Germany, in 2001. Note: A recording entitled The Lion King, by the London Theatre Orchestra and Singers, was released on November 14, 2000 (D-3 Entertainment, ASIN: B00004ZDR6). This is not the London original cast recording. [80] Phindile Mkhize and Ntsepa Ptjeng are the only actresses who performed as leads in the three languages the musical's been performed in. Phindile performed in English (American tour and Las Vegas, 2002–2010), Spanish (from 2012 to 2013) and Portuguese (2013); while Ntsepa was leading in Brazil (2014, as a substitute to Phindile), Basel (2015) and Shanghai (2016).