The Lion King's Broadway Cast Performs on NPR's Tiny Desk
To celebrate The Lion King's 25th anniversary on Broadway, the show's performers and musicians traveled from New York City to Washington, D.C. on their day off to appear on NPR's Tiny Desk concert series.
Directed by Julie Taymor, featuring music by Elton John and Tim Rice, The Lion King opened in October 1997 at the New Amsterdam Theatre. In 2006, the production moved to the Minskoff Theatre, where it still puts on eight performances a week.
"You have to just believe in something and have people behind you who also believe in it," Taymor told Town & Country in 2017. "And keep your fingers crossed."
L. Steven Taylor, who plays Mufasa, introduced the performance, which included hits like "Circle of Life" and "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" (above), saying, "Rather than give you a bunch of stats about the success of the show, we are here representing just a small fraction of the enormous village that has contributed to making this show what it is over the last 25 years."
Khwezi, who plays Nala, spoke about being the first South African performer to take on the role on Broadway. "I am honored to be Broadway's first South African Nala," she said. "Our director Julie Taymor usually says that the South African performers are the beating heart of every Lion King performance across the world." Three other South African performers were also featured in the Tiny Desk performance—S'bu Ngema, Mduduzi Madela, and Lindiwe Dlamini.
Notably, Dlamini has been part of the cast of The Lion King since it opened in 1997. "You don’t look at it as a job. You look at it as art, and you come in with the mindset to entertain people and give it 100 percent," Dlamini shared.
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