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THE PROGRAM

[[image - black & white photograph of Rick Wasserman]]
RICK WASSERMAN (u/s Zazu, Timon, Pumbaa). Broadway debut! Last seen off-Broadway as Enrique in Fornes’ Letters from Cuba (Signature). Regional favorites: Irving Berlin in The Tin Pan Alley Rag, Joe and Peachy in The Last Night of Ballyhoo, Chesire Cat in Wonderland and What Was Found There. Rick earned his M.F.A. from UMKC. All his love to his family.

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REMA WEBB (Ensemble). Broadway / national tour: Ragtime. Regional: Violet, Avenue X, Company. T.V./Film: Beloved with Oprah Winfrey, The Oksana Baiul Story, Sudden Death. Thanks to God, my foundation; to Mama and Ronny, my angels; and to Kenny and Ayanna, my strength.

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LEONARD WOOLDRIDGE (Ensemble). The Lion King marks his Broadway debut. Leonard has appeared in television and ﬁlm. Hailing from Motown, his solo album, When Love Comes Through, will be released soon. He has an M.B.A. from the University of Michigan.

[[image - black & white photograph of Frank Wright II]]
FRANK WRIGHT II (Swing) is an original cast member, who was last seen in Miss Saigon on Broadway. Other credits include: Jim in Big River; Thami; and My Children, My Africa. He thanks God.

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CHRISTINE YASUNAGA (Ensemble) is an original cast member. Born in Hawaii. B.A. from UCLA. Last seen on Broadway as Topsy in The King & I, Radio City’s Spring Spectacular, Lula Washington Dance Theatre, and the Hawaii Ballet Theatre. Mahalo for believing in me.

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VALENCIA YEARWOOD (Ensemble) was a soloist with the Dance Theatre of Harlem. Broadway: Once upon a Mattress. Regional: St. Louis Woman. T.V.: Law and Order, Cosby Mysteries. She thanks the loves of her life, Marvin and Shavonne, and praises God for all His blessings.

ELTON JOHN (Music). With 32 gold and 21 platinum albums, 29 consecutive Top 40 Hits, innumerable Grammy Awards, and more than 60 million records sold in the United States, Elton John, in a remarkable career spanning more than 30 years, is one of the top—selling solo artists of all time. Several years ago, Elton John embarked on a noteworthy songwriting collaboration with the renowned lyricist Tim Rice. This resulted in the tremendously successful soundtrack to the Walt Disney Pictures smash hit The Lion King. The album produced two top-selling, award—winning singles for Elton, “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” and “Circle of Life.” In 1997 The Lion King was presented on Broadway to great acclaim, and was awarded six honors at the 52nd annual Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and in 1999 with a Grammy for the Best Musical Show Album. The success of The Lion King resulted in Aida, their current collaboration. Apart from his musical projects, Elton John continues to be personally involved in the fundraising activities for the Elton John AIDS Foundation, which funds direct care service for men, women, and children living with HIV and AIDS. Since its inception in 1992, the Foundation has distributed more than $13 million in grants worldwide. In 1997, in honor of his 50th birthday, he was awarded an Honorary Membership to the Royal Academy of Music in London — a school he attended in his junior years. And in February of 1998 the Queen of England knighted Elton John for his contributions to charity and the arts, honoring him with the title Sir Elton John CBE. Elton John is the recipient of the Grammy Legend Award.

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THE PROGRAM

TIM RICE (Lyrics). Theater: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, Blondel, Chess, Starmania/Tycoon, some of Beauty and the Beast, Heathcliff, King David, some of The Lion King, Aida. T.V./Film: Three More Men in a Boat, some of Aladdin, The Lion King, The Road to El Dorado, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (new ﬁlm starring Donny Osmond just released on video), Jesus Christ Superstar (back in 1973), Evita (1996). Books: Oh What a Circus (ﬁrst volume of gripping memoirs recently published in U.K., inexplicably not yet out in U.S., in the meantime fax Eileen at (44) 20 8876—8239 with your order), Evita, Treasures of Lord’s (a cricket book), more than 30 books on British popular music, 26 Heartaches Crieketers’ Almanacks. He was born in leafy Buckinghamshire, England, 1944. Knighted in 1994 (not yet realized by the New York Times). Currently has four shows on Broadway, probably a record, certainly very tiring.

ROGER ALLERS (Book) makes his Broadway debut with this Tony-nominated book, adapted from the animated feature, which he co—directed. Mr. Aller has been instrumental in shaping the structure and dialogue for many Disney animated features since 1988, including Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, Oliver and Company, Rescuers Down Under, Prince and the Pauper, and the computer-animated movie Tron. He is currently developing a new Disney animated feature. Prior to working with Disney, he created animation on children’s programs and features for studios in Boston, Toronto, and Tokyo.

IRENE MECCHI (Book) began her association with Disney in March 1992, when she wrote Recycle Rex, an animated short, which won the 1994 Environmental Media Award. Irene is a co-writer of Disney’s animated features The Lion King, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Hercules. Along with co-author Roger Allers, she received a 1997 Tony nomination for writing the book for The Lion King. Irene wrote the teleplay for Annie, which aired on ABC in November. A native San Franciscan, Irene has written for print, television, and live-action ﬁlm, as well as a stage play drawn from the 60 years of newspaper columns by San Francisco’s Pulitzer Prize—winning writer, Herb Caen.

JULIE TAYMOR (Director, Costume Designer, Mask/Puppet Co-Designer, Additional Music & Lyrics). In 1998 she won the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical and for Best Costumes for The Lion King. She also won the Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and Drama League awards for her direction, and myriad awards for her original costume, mask, and puppet designs. Ms. Taymor made her Broadway debut in 1996 with Juan Darién (Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater), nominated for five Tony awards. Other theater work includes Titus Andronicus, The Tempest, and The Taming of the Shrew (Theatre for a New Audience); Juan Darién (Music—Theatre Group); co-adapter and director of The Transposed Heads (Lincoln Center and American Music Theatre Festival) and Liberty's Taken (Castle Hill Festival); designer and choreographer of The King Stag (American Repertory Theatre). Opera direction: The Magic Flute (Maggio Musicale, Florence); Oedipus Rex (Saito Kinen Festival, Japan); Salome (Kirov Opera); The Flying Dutchman (Los Angeles Opera). Film: Fool’s Fire for American Playhouse. Her feature film Titus, starring Anthony Hopkins and Jessica Lange, was released in 1999 and published in an illustrated book by Newmarket Press. Ms. Taymor’s awards include a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, an Emmy for Oedipus Rex, Obie Awards for Visual Magic and for Juan Darién, the Brandeis Creative Arts Award, the Dorothy Chandler Performing Arts Award, and the International Classical Music Award for Best Opera Production (Oedipus Rex). A revised and expanded edition of Julie Taymor: Playing with Fire, spanning over 20 years of her work, is published by Abrams. The Lion King: Pride Rock on Broadway, is published by Hyperion. Her production of The Green Bird (New Victory Theater and La Jolla Playhouse) is currently on Broadway at the Cort Theater.

GARTH FAGAN (Choreographer) is the recipient of the 1998 Tony Award for Best Choreography as well as the Drama Desk Award, the Astaire Award, and the Outer Critics Circle Award for his work with The Lion King. Mr. Fagan was born in Kingston, Jamaica, and for over 28 years has toured the world with Garth Fagan Dance. On television, the company has appeared on Great Performances, The Tonight Show, and the Academy Awards. Mr. Fagan forged his own dance language and technique, drawing from modern dance, Afro—Caribbean, and ballet. Mr. Fagan has choreographed for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Dance Theatre of Harlem, the Jose Limon Company, and others. He directed and choreographed Duke Ellington’s Queenie Pie at the Kennedy Center and choreographed Joseph Papp’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. A distinguished University Professor at SUNY—Brockport, he has received numerous awards and fellowships, including a Dance Magazine Award, a Bessie Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Fulbright 50th Anniversary Distinguished Fellow.