The storytelling in “Disney’s The Lion King” is imbued with languages such as Zulu, Swahili, French, English and Xhosa.
Its music also comes from instruments from across the world, like a Romanian pan flute, a Peruvian toyo and the Irish flute, which represents the story’s spiritual guide, a baboon named Rafiki.
Broadway musical veteran Darlene Drew is in the orchestra pit for "Disney's The Lion King," which is playing at the Straz Center in Tampa.
She’s responsible for the 15 flutes in the show, which represent Mufasa, Scar and Simba, to name a few.
She told WUSF that the work keeps her “hopping.”
“These little ethnic instruments will slap me down if I'm if I'm not on my game. Because each one needs its own muscle memory. When I pick it up, my body just sets itself for that flute. So that has to be in the front of my brain. But the music itself never gets old,” she said.
Drew started playing music when she was a young girl and said she originally gravitated toward the bassoon.
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“But the band director laughed at me and said, ‘Oh, you'll have to stand on the chair to play it,’ because I was in fourth grade. I was tiny, but I thought the bassoon was really cool, so I thought, ‘OK, I'll play the flute,’ which I'm actually glad about now,” she said.
Before she came to “Disney’s The Lion King,” Drew played in Chicago for musicals such as “Miss Saigon,” and “Phantom of the Opera.”
“And once you get into that fold, they kind of just keep coming, and in addition to other musical things that I was doing with orchestras and chamber groups and all the things that go into being a freelance musician,” she said.
Drew, who is classically trained, said she needed to learn to play like a jazz musician for “The Lion King.”
“Especially with the ethnic instruments I was doing, kind of breaking all the rules of classical playing, pitch bending, slides, different ornamentation to kind of evoke a more ethnic, ethereal kind of sound that the show calls for. So, it’s mainly an extending of the musical palette. And that was the wonderful stretch that I was able to do in learning the show. It really got me out of my comfort zone,” Drew said.
"Disney's The Lion King" is a feast for the eyes and ears. The best thing to do if you are planning to go is to make sure you look all around while you are there. Or you might miss something.
“Disney’s The Lion King” is playing at the Straz Center's Morsani Hall through Sunday. Click here for details.
The Straz Center put out this statement on ticket purchases:
"We strongly discourage customers from buying from ticket scalpers or online from unverified sources. Not only is there no guarantee of ticket authenticity, but there is also no accountability or further recourse should the tickets prove to be invalid. Tickets should always be purchased directly from Strazcenter.org, in person at the Straz Center Ticket Sales Office or by calling 813-229-7827."
