Beginning today, Busch Gardens guests can settle in for a musical about the, um, the circle of life. Creators promise a more authentic African vibe than that OTHER African animal story.
By JOHN FLEMING
Published April 8, 2004
[Photos: Joan Marcus, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay]
Liyongo, played by Tyrone Robinson, teaches an overbearing bullfrog, RokRok, the treasures found in respecting and listening to others.
In addition to featuring elaborate costumes, KaTonga uses larger-than-life animal puppets created by Tony-award winner Michael Curry.
Inspired by Busch Gardens’ animal tradition, the tales of KaTonga are told through music, dance and stage spectacle in a 35-minute show.
Storyteller Shade, played by Ramona Dunlap, sings an original song telling the story of Kilinda, an African crowned crane.
Kipopo the caterpillar’s journey of self-discovery leads her through encounters with grasshoppers and other insects.
TAMPA - "It's all about the countenance."
Michael Curry pointed to the figure of a giraffe in the cluttered, dimly lighted backstage of the theater. Peering from the shadows, the animal's face had an enigmatic expression, friendly and serene yet aloof, like an image in a Picasso painting.
The area around the giraffe was full of animal puppets, masks and characters: a 21-foot praying mantis, a tiny monkey, a lizard on a fiberglass tree, brightly colored frogs, an inflatable lavender hippo, grasshoppers with stilts, an orange turtle, a monarch butterfly, a green and pink caterpillar, a white egret and more.
All were designed and built by Curry and artists at his Oregon studio for an African-themed show, KaTonga: Tales From the Jungle, which opens today in the Moroccan Palace Theater at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay.
"I know this show will be a step above what people have expected, not just here but at any theme park," said Curry, interviewed at the theater in March. "It's going to open people's minds."
KaTonga does promise to be a significant departure from conventional theme park entertainment, which tends to run to toe-tapping Broadway and Las Vegas revues. At Busch Gardens, the Moroccan Palace housed ice shows for the past 15 years.
"We were given the freedom to build a show unlike any other we had ever done before," said Elaine College, vice president of entertainment at Busch Gardens. "It was a challenge to our department to come up with a signature show."
Busch Gardens, of course, is known for its African animals and landscaping, as well as some spectacular roller coasters. College said her mandate was to develop "a third piece to the triangle."
"Mom and dad and the kids can see the animals and ride roller coasters, but after they're finished, they can go and see a fine show."
Approximately three years in the making, KaTonga (which College said means "a gathering place" in Swahili) is a Broadway-style one-act musical about African animal folklore, featuring a master storyteller, or griot, and four apprentices. They relate tales such as that of the metamorphosis of a caterpillar into a butterfly and an adolescent monkey's coming of age.
The show has a cast of 18 who perform six songs, minimal dialogue and lots of dance. The running time is as close to 35 minutes as producer Don Frantz can get it.
"Thirty-five (minutes) is our target," Frantz said last week after a series of dress rehearsals, followed by rewrites. "We started at 44 minutes. We're now at 39. We're still quickening up the scenes, so it may trend down to 35."
What sets KaTonga apart from the theme-park norm is its creative team, many of whom have Broadway credits, notably on The Lion King. Frantz was an associate producer of the acclaimed Disney musical. Curry, a longtime collaborator with director Julie Taymor, designed and built the remarkable puppets, characters and masks for the show. KaTonga lighting designer Donald Holder won a Tony Award for his work on The Lion King.
Frantz said ideas considered and worked up for the Busch Gardens show ranged from a shortened version of the musical Doctor Doolittle to a treatment of Noah's Ark. He acknowledged the potential pitfalls of what finally got the go-ahead.
"We wanted to make a show that resonates and makes a statement about what Busch Gardens is," Frantz said. "So we got to animals and Africa . . . and then we all said, you know, "How's this not going to be Lion King?' "
Curry probably has the most to lose from a prestige standpoint if that question hasn't been answered successfully.
He is responsible for a wide range of innovative design that includes a Cirque du Soleil show soon to open in Las Vegas, Taymor's upcoming production of The Magic Flute at the Metropolitan Opera and Mike Myers' hats in the movie The Cat in the Hat. But his big breakthrough came with The Lion King.
"You can understand my sensitivity to this subject," Curry said. "I know people will say, "Oh, they're just ripping off The Lion King.' No, we're not. And it'll be evident. I feel good about the outcome."
Since 1993, Curry has been principal consultant for puppetry at Disney theme parks, advising on parades and shows, including Lion King-related attractions.
"I've been very careful to keep a distinction between that show (The Lion King) and this show," Curry said of KaTonga. "I'm doing what is appropriate to tell these stories. At the same time, I've guarded the exclusivity of The Lion King and designed work that I feel supports this story but in any way isn't banking on the success or the techniques of The Lion King. I'm self-monitoring myself."
KaTonga's narrative style, which Frantz said was inspired by a visit to the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough, Tenn., helps to differentiate it from The Lion King.
"The Lion King was based on one linear story; this has this wonderful potpourri of stories that are intertwined," Curry said. "It's a variety of things as opposed to one consistent concept. I think that's much more akin to the storytelling traditions of Africa. So in one sense, this is a more African story. It hasn't been made European . . . hasn't been Disneyized."
The 1,100-seat Moroccan Palace is a key asset. "As far as a theme park theater, there's no other theater like this on the East Coast," said Frantz, who compared it with venerable Broadway theaters such as the Music Box or the Ambassador, but with a larger stage and more wing space.
The Moroccan Palace was extensively renovated, with a new stage and automated system for lights, sound and scenery, accounting for a sizable chunk of the production's estimated cost of more than $5-million. "It's comparable to a medium-priced Broadway show in cost," College said.
Frantz, who produced and directed shows at Disney World in the early 1990s, said it was a generous budget. "Busch has taken an out-of-the-box risk to put up a show, and they put significant resources behind it," he said.
The KaTonga company, which includes acrobats from China, is young. The nonunion wages are $15 an hour for principals, $11.25 an hour for supporting players, with at least six-month contracts. They'll perform seven days a week, from three to seven shows a day.
Theme park shows can be a grind, but College, a onetime dancer and 30-year veteran at Busch Gardens, defends them as an important rung on the theatrical career ladder.
"People look at the fact that we do so many shows a day as a negative," she said. "I point out that it's a great field to hone your skills in. People who have been here have gone on to Broadway: The Lion King,Rent, Les Miz. And some have made careers here."
For all the money and talent behind it, KaTonga must appeal to theme park visitors who usually are drawn more for the rides and animals than for the theater. To enhance the show's accessibility, two numbers are based on hit songs: Talk to the Animals, written by Leslie Bricusse for Doctor Doolittle, and Bobby McFerrin's Don't Worry, Be Happy.
"People in a theme park audience, many of whom will be introduced to this level of theatrics for the first time, are used to hearing songs they know," Frantz said. "It became kind of a nice creative choice to deliver to them some tunes they would recognize. In two locations, they get grounded with something they know."
Even with the familiar music of Bricusse and McFerrin, whose publishers licensed the songs to the show, Frantz thinks the "killer number" is Celebrate the Light by Desmond Boone, the Busch Gardens music director who wrote the bulk of the score.
"If this song doesn't get local air play, I'll be shocked," Frantz said. "If kids aren't competing to it in ice skating rinks, I'll be surprised. It's just that good."
Busch Gardens is also banking on the appeal of Curry's puppetry to children. Its trademark is what he calls the "duality" of seeing an actor manipulate an animal figure.
"Kids really get this exposed puppetry thing," Curry said. "They have the ability to just see the puppet or just see the actor. I've always been intrigued by that. It's like two performances going on at once."
Still, is it possible that all this could be too sophisticated for families hot off the roller coasters on a summer day?
"I'm not sure, because this is the first time that we have done this," College said. "I would think that parents would love the opportunity to introduce their kids to this."
Ultimately, she sees KaTonga as an educational effort.
"I think it's important for children to be able to see this," College said. "The percentage of people going to a performing arts center is a small percentage of the general population. Here you have an opportunity to bring a Broadway-style show to the masses."
KaTonga: Musical Tales From the Jungle opens today at the Moroccan Palace Theater, Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, Busch Boulevard and 40th Street, Tampa. There are three to seven performances daily. Park hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Hours are extended during select weekends, holidays and the summer. Theater admission is included in park admission: $53.95 plus tax adults, $44.95 plus tax (children ages 3-9; free for children 2 and younger); $50.95 plus tax (55 and older). Parking: $7-$11. (813) 987-5280 or toll-free 1-888-800-5447; www.buschgardens.com
