The Lion King Julie Taylor Analysis

Everybody in theatre has their part to do in order for a play to be a smash-hit; If a certain department lacks or overlooks any important aspects the play will result in a flop. This means that everything from sound effects to costuming must be checked twice over. I want cover costuming because, it is single-handily the most stressful areas when orchestrating productions. For years, costumes were used in theatre, –masks being the first form of costume ever being dated- to show emotion or wore dresses and gowns to demonstrate who was the woman in the group, –in the earlier years only men were allowed to act- now (not only can every gender act) we carry costumes for every shape and size, enabled the “quick change” method, and a whole bunch of

other amazing things. Costumes must embody the character the performer is portraying, but it is a must that the audience has the see the actors face. The costumes must blend in with the lights, the scenery, the story being told, etcetera. There are numerous examples to use, I could use the innovative “Cinderella”, the unique “Spiderman: Turn off the Dark”, the well praised “Wicked”. There are many that can be covered, but there is one in particular that has the innovation, is well praised, and has the wonderful Julie Taymor design and direct it: The Lion King. The Lion King was a success with everything, the critics loved it, and it is currently being showed on Broadway. One of the many reason why this show was such a big success was all due to Julie Taylor and her costume design, the performers’ face could be seen, and the movement of the puppets.
We all know a lot of plays, but do we really know the people behind it all.

The answer is probably mixed, but let us pretend that majority is no. The genius behind The Lion King is Julie Taylor. Why is she a genius, she is the one who directed this magnificent play and constructed the costumes. If one would like for me to enlighten them about Miss Taylor, she is “an American director of theatre, opera and film. She is best known for directing, The Lion King, for which she became the first woman to win the Tony Award for directing a musical, in addition to a Tony Award for Original Costume Design. (Wikipedia). She wanted to make the play original, but still keep the movie culture and design. Hence, why there warm, earthy tone and the animal puppets. To describe some of her creations I can give a very detailed description of one of the main characters in The Lion King: Mufasa, the king of the jungle. In her concept art, she displayed early on that she would create a lion-like, hand painted, wood-carved masks to rest upon the performers’ head and it would lower to show anger or show shame. Julie then dressed embellished bodies in red and black body paint and covered them up in African themed clothing, such as, Buba (a Yoruba blouse), an Iron (wrap skirt), or Dashiki (a male garment that cover the top half of the body). Most of the cast feet were

uncovered.
“Disney, hewing to the artistic high road, gambled that Taymor’s genius could sell tickets, and she, for her part, preserved the essence of “The Lion King” franchise characters while placing her distinctive stamp on them. A soft, furry, bland animal story was anathema to her, so she created puppets and masks with a sharp-edged, rough-hewn look that continued her trademark obscuring of the lines between actor and puppet and costume. Cable-operated masks hang over the actors playing the lions like headdresses, suggesting ancient religious masks, but when the lions turn aggressive, the masks lower smoothly to cover the actors’ faces. One low tech-to-high effect sequence involves the brilliant sea of savanna that as it grows reveals the actors underneath, wearing tables of savanna like hats, but her master stroke was to create life-size animal puppets operated by actors in full view of the audience. A giraffe, for instance, is actually an actor wearing a cone like giraffe neck and head — balanced on arm and leg stilts. It was this idea of the “’duality of the puppet and the actor”’ that sold Disney, and the company did not balk at her changing male monkey Rafiki into a female baboon-cum-shaman, allowing a darker tone to underscore lion cub Simba’s journey to adulthood, and merging South African music with Elton John’s pop tunes.” (Baseline Studios)
Taymor’s ideas were always cutting edge and revolutionary for other productions.
The important rule of costume design is that it MUST show the performer’s face. Why is it so important that we must see their faces? Of course they all would love to have recognition for their hard work. No one wants to be known as “that one guy who played Simba”. They would love to be recognized by their name and that they are the reason that character is so life-like, not the polar opposite. Another reason to display the actor’s face, while in costume, would be the vitality of their expressions. "When a figure made of wood and fabric moves like a living thing, the visual and emotional impact is magical.”(Taymor 148) The Lion King is such an emotional movie, for example, when Simba witnessed his father die in front of his eyes he did not stand there, as if he was some bar of soap. No, Simba bawled his tiny eyes out and (by his facial movements) was deeply depressed. When Taymor was designing these outfits she probably wanted to bring out everything the play offered; meaning that she wanted to show off their faces for that awe factor and to get the audience involved. That is why when she chose for the mask to be on top of the head instead of on their faces was a smart move, it tells a lot.
Another very intriguing aspect of the play, is the puppets. Puppets are almost a dying and very difficult art. The only place we really see puppets being used is on stage. I consider these inanimate objects part of the costume family because, people use them in a multitude of ways: on their bodies, on their hands, or controlling certain sections of the puppet (i.e. Warhorse). This is has to be, if not, the most intricate type of costuming because, we have to learn how to use them. In the Lion King, we see many uses of puppetry throughout the whole production. Those “many uses” are heavily used in the first act where Rafiki held up Samba. Some of the performers have gazelles strapped to their wrists in order to give the illusion of leaping when they waves their hands up and down. “One can either focus solely on the puppet or enjoy the direct and transparent art of the actor motivating the puppet. At rest, a puppet is just a facsimile of a human being or an animal. But when Zazu's wings flutter excitedly or Timon cocks his head at a quizzical angle, the pleasure of watching that facsimile turn into a being with recognizable emotions is the pinnacle of this type of theater experience."(Taymor 149) Even when puppets are not in use they continue to make a great costume. They always seem to add a certain quality that modern costuming do not. All in all, it proves itself as –not- a one trick pony.
Yes, everything is vital to a productions success, but costumes make the play. As I cover The Lion King, I briefly talked about designer and director behind it all, Julie Taymor. I talked about her because, she was the mastermind behind all of the costumes in this play. I also described her innovative and artistic use of both costumes and puppets. All of the costumes were gorgeous and game changing.