Writer of Pop Culture

Cool and refreshing news about pop culture and entertainment.

Pop Culture Flashback: The Lion King’s Broadway Kingdom (Nov. 13)

Disney’s The Lion King franchise has been very lucrative for the company with its straight-to-video sequels and live action remakes. But the Broadway show is a class act all by itself.

November 13, 2026

Disney’s The Lion King franchise has been very lucrative for the company with its straight-to-video sequels and live action remakes. But the Broadway show is a class act all by itself.

1997 – ‘The Lion King’ Roars on Broadway

The Broadway production of The Lion King is a visual and musical masterpiece of storytelling. It’s not your typical Broadway show. Although based on the 1994 animated Disney film of the same name, The Lion King stage musical offers a whole different experience. It features large contraptions that resemble animals and operate like puppets.

The show, which features music by Elton John and lyrics by Tim Rice, had its official opening on this day in 1997 at the New Amsterdam Theater on Broadway. (Previews of the show began a year earlier.)

Directed by Julie Taymor, The Lion King is currently Broadway’s third longest-running show in history (The Phantom of the Opera and Chicago hold the first two spots) and the highest grossing Broadway production of all time. In September of 2014, The Lion King became the top-earning title in box-office history for both stage productions and films, surpassing the record previously held by Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera.

In 1998, The Lion King was nominated for 11 Tony Awards and won six awards for Best Musical, Direction of a Musical, Choreography, Scenic Design, Costume Design, and Lighting Design.

OTHER EVENTS THAT HAPPENED ON THIS DAY:

2008 – The World’s Largest Rubber Band

A rubber band ball made from green rubber bands — *(Wikimedia Commons)*

In April of 2004, Joel Waul from Lauderhill, Florida began working on the world’s largest rubber band. On November 13, 2008, Guinness World Records was at his house. The ball weighed over 9,000 pounds and stood tall at 6 feet, 7 inches.

1940 – ‘Fantasia’ Comes to Theaters

Conductor Leopold Stokowski shaking hands with Mickey Mouse in a scene from *Fantasia. (Walt Disney Pictures via TVDB)*

Fantasia, one of Walt Disney’s most ambitious films, was released in theaters during a 13-city “roadshow” of presentations. The studios’ third full-length animated movie featured eight segments which were set to different pieces of classical music and conducted by famed composer, Leopold Stokowski. Seven were performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra. Music critic, Deems Taylor, served as the “master of ceremonies” throughout the film.

During Fantasia’s initial run, the studio was unable to recoup its costs. In fact, it took more than a decade for it to turn a profit.

Disney had wanted Fantasia to become an ongoing project where one or two segments would be swamped out for new ones for future releases of the film. That didn’t happen, but the film was re-released many times in 1942, 1946, 1956, 1963, 1969, 1977, 1982, 1985 and 1990.

Walt’s nephew, Roy E. Disney, co-produced Fantasia 2000 which began production in 1990. It contained all new segments (except for “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice”) with new music performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and by conductor James Levine. The movie however did not come to theaters until nine years later on December 17, 1999.

In 2002, Disney talked about, yet another version called Fantasia 2006, but those ideas were later dropped. “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” segment was adapted into its own live action 2010 movie and there have been talks of creating a live film based on “The Night on Bald Mountain” segment.