MADISON, Wis. — Disney’s “The Lion King” is at the moment taking heart stage at Madison’s Overture Heart for the Arts.
In every single place the manufacturing goes, folks flock to “The Lion King” as a result of it’s such a spectacle.
Brian Westmoreland was at all times a theater child.
“I love the theater,” he mentioned.
Westmoreland is the Manufacturing Stage Supervisor for the present tour of “The Lion King.” The tour is spending a number of weeks on the Overture Heart for the Arts.
“We have a whole team of department heads, and all of them know where everything is,” Westmoreland mentioned as he walked by way of the packed backstage.
Props, costumes and set items are saved in all places.
“Because the show is so big, as soon as everything comes off the stage, we have these set pieces that fly up into the air,” he mentioned. “These all fly in before the show to get into them, the zebras, the cheetah, and the rhino.”
Backstage there’s a protracted makeshift locker room-type space known as “the bunker.”
“The bunker is where the ensemble members will come in. They basically spend their entire show here when they’re not on stage,” Westmoreland mentioned. “They just run back, they do quick changes, and then jump out for their next scenes.”
It takes about 200 folks to verify the present goes on eight instances per week. Plus, greater than a dozen semi vehicles filled with costumes, set items and gear go from metropolis to metropolis. Westmoreland spends a variety of his time planning for the following steps.
“On the road, you’re always having to advance to the next city,” he mentioned. “I’m preparing for not only our next stop, which is Tulsa, but our stop after that which is Washington, D.C.”
This cease is particular. His dad and mom are from Wisconsin.
“Every summer my parents would send my brother and I out here,” he mentioned. “So, we went here, and to Wisconsin Dells.”
Although he’s seen the present lots of, possibly hundreds of instances, he mentioned it by no means will get previous. Each efficiency, he tries to get into the theater to see the opening quantity.
“There’s so many elements, there’s always things that change … it always feels fresh,” he mentioned. “The story is about self-discovery, finding your place in the community, family, and these are things that everybody can deal with.”
The present runs by way of Sunday, Could 28 on the Overture Heart.
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