The Zazu costume was a massive undertaking involving tons of layers of fabric and sequins.
It also helps to make the confusion of the Lionesses thinking he is Mufasa make more sense. Simba has a costume change when he goes back to the Pride Lands and is then dressed identically to Mufasa to represent his willingness to grow up and take his rightful place as king. You can see in the top two photos below Young Simba and Simba with Timon and Pumbaa. By dressing them in almost identical costumes it made the transition in Hakuna Matata clearer for the audience and was a great moment in performance. Young Simba (played by a girl in our production) had a pair of gold heely’s to tool around in and to give her that more kid like feel, where Simba had a pair of custom painted gold converse shoes. The jackets matched our lioness jumpsuits, Mufasa’s pants and Scars cravat really well and helped tie the costumes together. The T-shirt was a great tie-dye lion that we paired with a gold American Apparel track jacket to tone it down and add in some of the gold which was our common lion color. We ordered the same t-shirt and jacket for both young and old Simba in different sizes. We wanted to play with the idea that Simba was a slacker kid and teen who was a bit of a troublemaker who then grows into his greatness. As for makeup, it was an exaggerated cat eye in black, gold and white, gold highlight and gold lipstick to finish off this classy but fierce look. As flash tattoos were the big thing last spring/summer we used them to add some sparkle, toughness, and individuality to our lionesses. We went with a warrior style single dutch braid in the back and put gold cord through their hair to add some drama. They have adjustable straps and elastic at the waist and ankles which made them easier to work with when doing back handsprings. The students thought they were super comfortable and easy to move in. I found these amazing gold lame jumpsuits on Amazon and at around $20 each they were a budget friendly, striking costuming solution.
In Circle of Life they entered running through the audience and we used spring boards on the floor so they could vault onto the stage with cartwheels, dives and more. The Lionesses in our production were played by the gymnastics team and we needed costumes they could easily move in. The girls were obsessed with their crazy hair, faux hawks and hair extensions, they were not a crew to mess with. We went with combat boots, different patterned silver, gray and black metallic leggings, graphic t-shirts and leather jackets. We went with similar but different for this group to create a cohesive look and color palate with each girl having their own individual look. I loved casting a group of very nice girls to play Scar’s gang and their look was intentionally in contrast to his very put together more high fashion look below. They were easily manipulated by Scar and his quest for power. The Hyenas are the disenfranchised youth who are on the fringes of Pride Rock society, refusing to conform and ready to fight anyone who gets in their way. We decided on a punk/goth hybrid with the heavy makeup, colored hair extensions and graphic tees. The Hyenas were one of my favorite designs of this show. The essential question was: “if The Lion King characters lived in today’s society who would they be and what would they wear?” We humanized all the characters and spent some time working with both the cast and our 8th Grade Stage Production classes researching and pinteresting to create inspiration boards. The overall theme for our production of The Lion King, Junior was Safari Chic. Production Concept: Costumes, Hair and Makeup We scaled the sets and costumes way back and focused on the essence of the story and characters which proved to be a really smart decision and resulted in a production everyone was really proud of. Most schools do not have the time or budgets to create the level of detail and craftsmanship you would see in a Disney production. I did not want it to look like a cheesy replica of the original, which it would have if we had tried to replicate the designs. The intention for the design aesthetic for our production of The Lion King, Junior was to do a (mostly) non-masked production that looked very different than the iconic Julie Taymor designs, but still retained some of the scale and magic of the original production, but on a much more modest school budget. If you are just joining us here is some info you may find helpful. The previous posts will give you some insight into our design process and the set, today we are talking costumes. Welcome to Part 3 of Designing Disney’s The Lion King, Junior.
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