Academy Award-winning recording artist, Elton John, released a new studio album in September, 1997, titled The Big Picture. The release of this album is especially noteworthy because it also marks the 30th anniversary of one of the most prolific songwriting teams in the history of pop music, Elton John and lyricist Bernie Taupin. Several years ago, Elton John embarked on another noteworthy songwriting collaboration with renowned lyricist, Tim Rice, and this resulted in the tremendously successful soundtrack to the Walt Disney Pictures smash hit, The Lion King. The album produced two top-selling, award-winning singles for Elton, “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” and “Circle of Life”. To date, the record has surpassed the 10 million mark in sales. The success of The Lion King has resulted in yet another Elton John/Tim Rice collaboration. The duo have written new material based on the story depicted in Verdi’s classic opera Aida for an upcoming Disney theatrical project. Apart from his musical projects, Elton John continues to be personally involved in the fundraising activities for the Elton John AIDS Foundation which funds direct care services for men, women, and children living with HIV and AIDS. Since it’s inception in 1992, the Foundation has distributed more than $13 million in grants worldwide. In addition, as a result of his contributions to charity and the arts, last year, Elton John was added to Queen Elizabeth’s Honors List, receiving the prestigious British title of Commander of the Order of the British Empire. This year, in honor of his 50th birthday, he was awarded an Honorary Membership to the Royal Academy of Music in London — a school he attended in his junior years.
Tim Rice — Lyrics
Theater: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat; Jesus Christ Superstar; Evita; Blondel; Chess; Starmania / Tycoon; some of Beauty and the Beast; Heathcliff, King David. In the works: Aida. TV / Films: Three More Men in a Boat; some of Aladdin; The Lion King. In the works: El Dorado, The Pheasant That Died of Old Age. Books: Evita; Treasures of Lord’s, over 30 Guinness Books on British pop music; 22 Heartaches Cricketers’ Almanacks. In the works: An autobiography.
Roger Allers — Book
Roger Allers makes his Broadway debut with this adaptation from the animated feature which he co-directed. Roger has been instrumental in shaping the structure and dialogue for all of the Disney animated features beginning with Oliver & Company in 1988. He is currently writing and directing Kingdom of the Sun, a Disney Animation feature scheduled for release in 1999.
Irene Mecchi — Book
Irene Mecchi began her association with Disney in March, 1992, when she wrote Recycle Rex, an animated short which won the 1994 Environmental Media Award. Irene is a co-writer of Disney’s animated features The Lion King, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Hercules, and is presently working on Disney’s upcoming Kingdom of the Sun.
Julie Taymor — Director, Costume Designer, Mask/Puppet Co-Designer, Additional Music & Lyrics
Julie Taymor directs theater, opera, and film. She made her Broadway debut in 1996 with her production of Juan Darién (Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater), which was nominated for five 1997 Tony Awards. Other theater work includes: The Green Bird (New Victory Theater and La Jolla Playhouse); Titus Andronicus, The Tempest, and The Taming of the Shrew (Theatre for a New Audience); Juan Darién (Music-Theatre Group); co-adapter and director of Transposed Heads (Lincoln Center and American Music Theatre Festival) and Liberty’s Taken (Castle Hill Festival); designer and choreographer of The King Stag (American Repertory Theatre). Opera direction: The Magic Flute (Maggio Musicale, Florence); Oedipus Rex (Saito Kinen Festival, Japan); Salomé (Kirov Opera); The Flying Dutchman (Los Angeles Opera). Film: Fool’s Fire, an adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s Hopfrog for American Playhouse. She is currently preparing to direct a feature film of her adaptation of Titus Andronicus. Ms. Taymor’s awards include a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, an Emmy for Oedipus Rex, Obie awards for Visual Magic and for Juan Darién, the Brandeis Creative Arts Award, the Dorothy Chandler Performing Arts Award, and the International Classical Music Award for Best Opera Production (Oedipus Rex). Playing with Fire, a book spanning 20 years of Julie Taymor’s work, was recently published by Abrams.
Garth Fagan — Choreographer
Lebo M. — Additional Music & Lyrics, Additional Vocal Score, Vocal Arrangements, Choral Director and Ensemble
Lebo M. is known as the “voice and spirit of The Lion King.” A native of South Africa, his pursuit of a musical career in the U.S. eventually landed him a Grammy for his arrangements of the Disney score in 1994. Lebo was the only African contributor to the smash film, which led to his work on the follow-up album Rhythm of the Pride Lands. Schooled at the Duke Ellington School of Music (Washington, D.C.) and the Los Angeles City College Music Department, Lebo was inspired by his native Zulu music, American jazz, and R&B. Credits include: The Power of One (co-wrote the music and lyrics, co-produced the soundtrack, and conducted a 110-person choir); Back on the Block and Listen Up with Quincy Jones; and the feature films Outbreak (Warner Bros.), Congo (Paramount), and Born to Be Wild (Warner Bros.), and the Disney TV special People. His new album, Deeper Meaning, will be released later this year.
Mark Mancina — Additional Music & Lyrics, Music Produced for the Stage and Additional Score
An award-winning composer, was an obvious choice to compose, produce, and adapt additional music for The Lion King stage production as he arranged and produced songs for the blockbuster animated feature film, for which he received both the Grammy and American Music Award in 1994. The film also spawned the hit album Rhythm of the Pride Lands, for which Mancina co-wrote, arranged, and produced three tracks, including “He Lives in You” and “Shadowland”, which are featured in the stage production. Ranked among the upper echelons of film composers, his credits include mega-hits Speed, Twister, and Bad Boys, the period epic Moll Flanders, which was on Billboard’s Classical Crossover Chart, and this summer’s hit action thriller Con Air, among others. He is recording an album of original material and also plans to embark on a tour featuring musical highlights from his film scores.
Hans Zimmer — Additional Music & Lyrics
Hans Zimmer received an Oscar, Golden Globe, and two Grammy awards for his film score of The Lion King. His long line of over 60 film and TV scores goes back to 1982’s Moonlighting, directed by Jerzy Skolimowski, and includes the Oscar-nominated scores for The Preacher’s Wife and Rain Man, as well as the Grammy Award-winning Crimson Tide, Black Rain, Thelma and Louise, Driving Miss Daisy, Backdraft, Green Card, Beyond Rangoon, and Broken Arrow. In addition to his composing duties, he has assumed the responsibility of heading DreamWorks’ entire film music division, and has scored their first film, The Peacemaker starring George Clooney and Nicole Kidman.
Jay Rifkin — Additional Music & Lyrics
The Grammy Award-winning producer, together with producing/composing partner Hans Zimmer, created Media Ventures, a film scoring studio and composer’s cooperative. Their partnership has earned them Academy Award nominations for the film scores of Driving Miss Daisy, Rain Man, and The Lion King. Based on the success of The Lion King soundtrack, Jay produced the gold-selling follow-up album Rhythm of the Pride Lands. He is also the founder and president of Mojo Records, an alternative music label he formed in 1995, home of Goldfinger and Reel Big Fish.
David Metzger — Orchestrator
David Metzger makes his Broadway debut with this production. He has previously worked as an orchestrator on many films, including Speed 2. He has arranged or composed over 250 pieces for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and worked on numerous national television commercials. David currently resides in Oregon.
Bruce Fowler — Orchestrator
Bruce Fowler is an accomplished musician who has composed pieces for such dance companies as the L.A. Chamber Ballet and The Repitoire Dance Theatre. In addition to performing on several film/TV soundtracks, he was the orchestrator for such hit films as The Lion King, The Rock, Crimson Tide, Backdraft, Twister, The Preacher’s Wife, Speed, and Con Air. Recently he orchestrated the score for the DreamWorks film The Peacemaker.
Chris Montan — Executive Music Producer
Chris Montan joined Disney in 1984, and is currently serving as the executive producer of feature animation music, producing motion pictures and television specials for the Studio as well as providing consultation on music-related projects. Under his guidance as head of music, soundtracks from seven theatrical releases (Cocktail, Beaches, The Little Mermaid, Pretty Woman, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King) were certified multi-platinum. Additionally, the Studio received Grammy, Golden Globe, and Academy Award recognition for many of its music entries. Most recently he was the executive music producer on the music for Pocahontas, Toy Story, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Hercules. His company’s current projects include a new all-star television production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s classic Cinderella for ABC.
Walt Disney Theatrical Productions — Producer
Walt Disney Theatrical Productions; a division of The Walt Disney Company, operates under the direction of Peter Schneider and Thomas Schumacher. Disney’s inaugural production, the Tony Award-winning Beauty and the Beast, continues in its fourth year on Broadway and is currently being performed in Chicago, London, Tokyo, Fukuoka, Mexico City, and Stuttgart.
