Birmingham takes centre stage as The Lion King roars into town

INWARD investment organisation Marketing Birmingham is busy making plans to cash in on what promises to be the city’s hottest show for years by staging a massive international marketing campaign promoting Birmingham’s benefits to visitors from around the world.

The campaign has been mounted in response to the staging of Disney’s The Lion King at Birmingham Hippodrome next year.

Tickets for the show, which starts on June 29 next year, go on sale today and a carefully stage-managed event was held yesterday at the city’s Crescent Theatre to promote the show.

Tim Manson, operations & policy director at Marketing Birmingham, speaking at the event said teams from the organisation were currently in the United States and Canada promoting Birmingham as a destination city, with the largest provincial theatre outside of London playing a pivotal role in the promotion.

“It has taken four years to get the production of The Lion King ready so that it can go on tour and we are delighted that it is going to be coming to Birmingham,” he said.

“There are 150 people backstage and a cast of 50 made up of people from 17 countries. It’s a truly unique production.

“We have got 200,000 tickets going on sale and that presents a marvellous opportunity for Birmingham. Each year we have 33m people come to Birmingham and they come because the city is capable of staging shows such as this.”

Speaking to representatives of Birmingham’s visitor economy, he said the show offered a major opportunity for them to market their own services, whether through accommodation, dining experiences or an enhanced visitor experience.

“By supporting the production you will be supporting Birmingham’s visitor economy – and that has to be in everyone’s best interests,” he added.

The musical, based on Disney’s popular animated film, has won awards the world over and features dramatic costumes, props, puppets and masks combined with the music of Elton John and Sir Tim Rice and others.

It will run at the Hippodrome for three months until September 28 and promises to be one of the most popular shows ever staged at the venue.