7/24/2023 0 Comments Zazu lion king broadway costumes![]() Meanwhile, the actor is dressed and painted blue to represent the sky supporting the winged creation. The right hand controls the head and neck movements of Zazu, with his index finger articulating the mouth and the thumb moving the eyelids, while his left hand keeps the body up in the air and beats the bird’s wings. ![]() ![]() As practice started, the actor admitted being overwhelmed at times by the complex creation, a hand puppet that’s operated with both hands. I remember thinking I wasn’t all that good at it, but I guess it went OK because here I am."Įarning the part, however, was just the beginning of Hirshfield’s puppeteer journey. "I went through a cycle of auditions just as an actor and then they brought in this puppet," Hirshfield recalled. Other than maybe some childhood hand puppets, Hirshfield had no previous acting experience with puppetry before auditioning for a role and becoming a member of the touring show back in July. Of course, it takes a lot of time and practice to make "the double event" actually come alive and make magic on stage. I’m a fully engaged actor as well as a fully engaged puppeteer." "Just as much as I’m operating a puppet and having an experience in the world of ‘The Lion King’ as Zazu the puppeteer, I, Zazu the person – the other half of the Zazu character – am also having an experience. "Both the puppet and the I, we have a simultaneous experience," said Drew Hirshfield, who plays Zazu in the upcoming production. It’s a kind of psychological magic, where the behind the scenes strings are right there to be seen but somehow makes the show and the animal characters more immersive in the process. 7 (the show comes to town as a part of the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts’ 2014-15 theater schedule). Taymor’s concept of "the double event" has helped transform "The Lion King" on stage into a phenomenon, one that’s arriving at the Milwaukee Theatre beginning Tuesday, Nov. You experience the puppet, and you experience the performer – and maybe it’s a triple event because you experience the mixture of those two things. "The zebras are worn by a performer, and you see the shape and movement of the zebra, but at the same time, you see there’s a human in this thing. "It’s really stretched the definition of what a puppet is," said Bruce Paul Reik, a long-time puppet assistant for the travelling tour of "The Lion King. Original "Lion King" director and theater icon Julie Taymor called the visible mix of on stage performance work and behind the scenes technician work "the double event." ![]() The inner workings of that spectacle are right there for the audience to see on stage, with the puppetry, the costumes and the actors all seamlessly coming together in plain sight to bring non-human characters to life. But even more of a spectacle is the actual creation of the show itself, managing a seemingly impossible feat: capturing the essentially elements of the classic animals-only Disney animated feature and bringing it to the stage with an even more dramatic, vibrant visual style. Of course it qualifies as a spectacle financially, grossing over a billion dollars and becoming the fourth longest-running Broadway show in history. "The Lion King" is one of the Broadway’s grandest spectacles.
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