Animals don’t always make the best Broadway actors. This is partly due to their inability to say their lines clearly, but also because trying to get a dog, cat or rat to behave the same way each night is quite hard. Instead of using real animals, many shows cast humans in animal parts.
The Lion King,which just entered its 19th year running on Broadway,is one of these shows. It opened in November of 1997, and won six Tony Awards including the Tony Award for Best Director of a Musical, which went to Julie Taymor, making Taymor the first female to receive this honor. Taymor also took home the Tony for Best Costume Design for a Musical for creating the animal costumes and puppets worn by the actors in the show.
To celebrate the show’s 19th year of performances, the production released a 360° virtual reality video of their opening number, “Circle of Life.” The video marks the first time a Broadway show has been recorded in an interactive, 360° video. You can view the video here.
There’s also a new animal gracing the Broadway stage this season, a dog by the name of Sylvia. Sylvia, by A.R. Gurney, is currently playing at the Cort Theatre and is a must-see for any dog lover. Tony Award winner Annaleigh Ashford is hysterical as Sylvia, a dog found stranded in the park by Greg, played by Matthew Broderick. The play was originally produced off-Broadway in 1995, where Broderick’s wife, Sarah Jessica Parker, played the role of Sylvia.
If a fake animal simply won’t do, you can see a dog on stage in Finding Neverland, or catch the 2015 Tony Award for Best Play winner, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, where the cast includes a rat named Toby.
Oliver Roth
Oliver Roth is the founder and CEO of OHenry Productions, a theatrical production company based in New York City.