Trivia / The Lion King (1997)

• Cut Song: "The Morning Report" was cut from the show in 2010, and subsequent stagings now have Zazu go straight into warning Mufasa about the hyena threat. "The Madness of King Scar" has been cut down over the years as well, removing much of the section where Scar's insanity is made apparent like arguing with himself and imagining Mufasa's ghost haunting him.
• Role Reprise: Whoopi Goldberg had a stunt casting night where she took a turn playing Shenzi, the character she voiced in the animated film (as well as a scene playing Rafiki).
• Throw It In!: Zazu is given quite a few moments to improvise. He'll often comment on the curtains used in "I Just Can't Wait to be King" (usually comparing them to shower curtains from branded stores like IKEA), and the song he sings to annoy Scar is different for every performance.
• What Could Have Been:
  • In early writing phases, Julie Taymor devised a much stranger Act II, where Simba stumbled upon a Vegas-like City of Lights home to a population of Funny Animals in the desert, ran by the villainous Papa Croc. Papa Croc made a deal with Scar to divert the water to provide hydroelectric power to run the city and Simba is forced into a fighting ring at his Pussycat Club, where he gains the title "The Lion King" in the tournaments there. Nala finds him there and after being forced to fight Timon and Pumbaa in the ring, all four make their escape back to the Pride Lands.
  • Concept art for Zazu's costume originally had a mask for the character. Following the 1996 August workshop, where it was described by Taymor as seeming "awkward and too big", the decision was made to have the puppet version of the character, where it remains in the final version.
  • Keith David revealed in 2024 that he read for the role of Mufasa during previews.