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Michael Reilly: Puppet Master for Disney’s ‘The Lion King’

Behind the scenes king Michael Reilly with some of the puppet masks for Disney’s “The Lion King.” Photo by Selena Moshell

Michael Reilly: Puppet Master for Disney’s ‘The Lion King’

Sunday, April 3, 2022

Sure, Mufasa may reign on the stage of Disney’s “The Lion King,” but Michael Reilly is the master of all he surveys. As puppet supervisor for the touring company of “The Lion King” for 10 years, his kingdom is comprised of over 200 different types of puppets, with a dedicated crew of 49 to bring those animals to life.

“It’s a big job,” Reilly said. “We wear a lot of different hats in the puppet department because we’re part of both wardrobe and props.”

The tallest animals in the show are four 18-foot giraffes from “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King.” Two actors trained in stilt-walking climb 6-foot ladders to fit inside these puppets, mount stilts and enter stage left to cross the stage.

The largest and longest animal in the show is the Elephant (nicknamed “Bertha” by backstage crew in 1997) at 13-feet long, 12-feet high and 9-feet wide. Bertha requires four actors working in tandem to take her down the orchestra aisle to the stage.

“The puppets themselves are gorgeous pieces of art,” Reilly said. “It’s such a big task to maintain them, but it’s so rewarding.”

Reilly started on his master-of-puppets path via a circuitous route. “It’s weird, I kind of fell into theater backwards,” he said. “I went to technical school. I learned how to repair cars and paint things. I really love to work with my hands.”

He entered the backstage world of Broadway by landing a job in the wardrobe department for “Cats.”

“After a while, theater became more and more puppet-oriented,” he said. “Then in ’99, when ‘Lion King’ called, it was an easy yes for me.”

With that yes came certain responsibilities, which Reilly and company do not take lightly.

“One of the things is that we do have to travel every three weeks,” Reilly explained, “so everything has to get packed up, driven several hundred miles and then unpacked. You never know what’s going to happen. We’ve lost horns, we’ve lost legs. We’ve even lost heads.”

Due to the immediacy of the theater and the sheer number of puppets in the menagerie, Reilly said that there are times when the crew won’t know about an issue until right before the actor takes the stage.

“A lot of times we don’t end up discovering until the actor puts those things on,” Reilly said. “But we’re right there on radio. We have tape. We have zip ties. We have crazy glue. Whatever it takes, because as you know, the show must go on. Sometimes it’s not pretty. But hopefully you’ll never know.”

Since Reilly began with “The Lion King,” the theater has begun to incorporate more and more puppetry into their productions. “We call it the Puppet Renaissance,” Reilly said. “So many shows have a puppetry element to them now. ‘Frozen’ has the reindeer and the Snowman. ‘Wicked’ has quite a few puppets in there. Even if it’s something as simple as shadow puppets.”

Reilly, who appreciates a variety of puppetry styles, says he gets to stretch his creative muscles with “The Lion King.”

“That’s great for me,” he said. “It’s really a pleasure. But I would say working so close with such a small group of so many talented people is wonderful. We have 2,500 people coming to see our show every night. There’s not many jobs where you can do that.”

Disney’s “The Lion King” will play at the Bass Concert Hall April 7 - 24.

Reilly had this important piece of advice for the people attending: “The number one thing I tell people: You don’t want to be late for ‘The Lion King.” The opening number is so incredible. Almost all of the animals are on stage, and it’s just a beautiful celebration.”

“The Lion King” will run Tuesdays through Fridays at 8 p.m.; Saturdays at 2 and 8 p.m.; and Sundays at 1 and 6:30 p.m. Tickets start at $35 and are available at texasperformingarts.org and BroadwayinAustin.com, by phone at 512- 477-1444, or from the Texas Performing Arts ticket office at Bass Concert Hall.

“We’re really excited to come back to Austin after such a long time away,” Reilly said. “It’s a pretty cool place. We’re excited to be there.”

San Marcos Record

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