Disney Stages an Event to Welcome ‘Lion King’

More than 500 people lined up outside Hollywood’s Pantages Theatre box office early Wednesday, and thousands more gathered near the corner of Hollywood and Vine, to take part in the hoopla touting the arrival of Disney’s Los Angeles production of “The Lion King.”

The well-orchestrated event, which played to an estimated 2,000 to 3,000, featured a stage show starring Rafiki from the Broadway show, the original Simba, as well as Nala from the London cast. Renditions of “Circle of Life,” “Shadowland” and “Can You Feel the Love Tonight?” were backed up by 50 members of the L.A. Life Choir. All this to mark the official box-office opening for the Tony Award-winning show that premieres Oct. 19.

Later in the day the scene was repeated at downtown’s California Plaza and Orange County’s South Coast Plaza. Events in San Marino, Arcadia and La Can~ada Flintridge are also planned--part of a grass-roots marketing effort.

“In New York, theater is so concentrated that it’s easy to attract attention,” said Roy Disney, vice chairman of Walt Disney Co., who participated in the event. “Here, our target audience reaches from San Diego to Santa Barbara, Santa Monica to Las Vegas so it’s harder to create a sense of ‘event.’ ”

At 8 a.m., the Pantages box office admitted the first 50 ticket buyers, many of whom left home before sunrise. First in line were San Gabriel residents Mike Fernando and Stanford Tran, who arrived at 2:30 a.m. The duo is no stranger to the game--they were also first to buy tickets for “Rent,” “Star Wars” and “Pokemon: The First Movie.” Still, they weren’t prepared to spring for the $125 VIP tickets entitling them to seats in the first 10 rows, center.

Mike Thompson of Burbank, however, who was No. 3, took a philosophical approach.

“It’s usually the case in our society that the most expensive gets you the best,” he said. “I’m going to buy eight VIP tickets--that is, if they’ll let me.”

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“Lion King” producers Thomas Schumacher and Peter Schneider maintained that a $10 to $125 ticket range catered to a variety of economic groups. “The policy reflects the show’s message of diversity,” said Schumacher, the studio’s chief of animation. “Better than paying scalpers $250 for the rear of the balcony, as a woman did in New York.” Added Schneider, chairman of Walt Disney Studios: “The VIP tickets are always the first to go.”

Presenting “Lion King” at the Pantages is part of Disney’s effort to breathe life into Hollywood, Roy Disney says--and is a throwback to the studio’s past. “Cactus Kid,” a short starring Mickey Mouse, accompanied the first film program at the theater, which owner James M. Nederlander is renovating in anticipation of “The Lion King.”

“The theater opened in 1930, the same decade I was born,” Disney told the crowd. “It’s going to get a make-over I can’t get--but maybe the Nederlanders would do that for me.”