Disney to release ‘The Lion King’ for UK schools to perform

From January 2015, schools across the United Kingdom and Ireland will be able to perform their own productions of Disney’s award-winning musical The Lion King, when special versions of the show are released for licensing. These two versions, The Lion King KIDS and The Lion King JR will give pupils the opportunity to bring Disney’s beloved story and characters to life.

Schools can now register their interest at www.disneymusicals.co.uk to be one of the first in the country to perform THE LION KING.

These titles are being released for schools to perform on school property. Amateur rights have not been released.

The Lion King KIDS is targeted at primary schools, allowing them to produce their own 30-minute adaptation of the original Broadway production of Disney’s The Lion King. The Lion King JR is a 70-minute adaptation targeted at secondary schools. With both versions, schools will receive a collection of materials to aid teachers and students in learning about stagecraft and performance.

In addition, schools will also receive The Lion King Experience; a cross-curricular resource for Key Stage 1, 2 and 3, supporting Art, Citizenship, Design and Technology, English, Music and PE. The curriculum is designed to introduce children and teachers to the craft of theatre through the lens of The Lion King and features student-driven, project-based learning.

“I am thrilled we can provide the KIDS and JR versions of The Lion King to students in the United Kingdom and Ireland for the very first time. The entire creative team of The Lion King got started in the theatre as children and those early experiences went on to inform our collective careers, so we are excited to be able to extend the legacy of the stage to the next generation of theatre-makers and theatre-goers” said Thomas Schumacher, producer and president, Disney Theatrical Productions.

“We are so happy that teachers and their students in the UK and Ireland will have the fun and challenge of performing their own productions of one of the most beloved stage musicals of all time. There will be huge excitement here that schools can perform these specially-developed new versions of The Lion King from January 2015″ said Seán Gray, Managing Director, Josef Weinberger Ltd. (licensing agent on behalf of Music Theatre International for all of Disney’s KIDS and JR titles in the UK and Ireland).

Each show comes with fully orchestrated and professionally recorded Rehearsal and Accompaniment CDs; a Choreography and Demonstration DVD; a Resources Disk with tools such as programme, budget and poster templates; a full-colour Director’s Guide with an annotated script and 30 Actor’s Scripts with incorporated sheet music. Three specially made djembe drums, along with video instruction accessible through a new global website specifically dedicated to The Lion King KIDS and The Lion King JR are also included.

In addition to The Lion King KIDS and The Lion King JR, Disney Theatrical Productions licenses stage performance rights to over 20 Disney titles through Josef Weinberger. To explore all of the shows available, please visit www.disneymusicals.co.uk