2022年11月19日 VOA慢速英语：狮子王在百老汇迎来 25 岁生日

 

The Lion King turns 25 years old on Broadway this month.
本月狮子王在百老汇迎来 25 岁生日。
 
The musical first opened in the summer of 1997 at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Audiences saw something no one had ever seen before: jumping antelopes, flying birds and elephants walking through the seats.
这部音乐剧于 1997 年夏天在明尼阿波利斯的欧菲姆剧院首演，明尼苏达州。观众看到了前所未见的景象：跳跃的羚羊、飞翔的小鸟和大象在座位间穿行。
 
"The audience started screaming so early. When the animals came down the aisle everybody shot up," said director-writer Julie Taymor. "We were just overwhelmed and we knew we had something."
“观众很早就开始尖叫。当动物从过道上下来时，每个人都兴奋起来，”导演兼编剧朱莉泰莫尔说。 “我们只是不知所措，我们知道我们有一些东西。”
 
That show in Minneapolis would soon move to Broadway. Broadway is an area in New York City where the largest and most famous plays and musicals are performed.
在明尼阿波利斯的那场演出很快就会搬到百老汇。百老汇是纽约市最大和最著名的戏剧和音乐剧上演的地区。
 
The Lion King would continue to perform for 25 years. It often sells the most tickets per week among all Broadway plays. It is also often young people's introduction to theater.
狮子王将继续演出 25 年。它通常是所有百老汇戏剧中每周售票最多的。也常常是年轻人对戏剧的入门。
 
In April 2012, The Lion King became Broadway's all-time highest-selling show. It passed The Phantom of the Opera which started almost 10 years earlier. With Phantom to close next year, the musical will compete with Chicago for the honor of longest-running show on Broadway.
2012 年 4 月，狮子王成为百老汇历史上最卖座的演出。它超过了将近 10 年前开始的歌剧魅影。随着《魅影》明年闭幕，这部音乐剧将与芝加哥争夺百老汇上演时间最长的演出荣誉。
 
It is easy to forget how revolutionary The Lion King was at the time it was released. Theatergoers were seeing Asian-influenced puppets and masks telling an African story with several African languages. The musical had South African performers and a Black king.
人们很容易忘记《狮子王》上映时的革命性。看戏的人看到受亚洲影响的木偶和面具用多种非洲语言讲述非洲故事。这部音乐剧有南非表演者和一位黑人国王。
 
In addition to writing and directing the show, Taymor also designed clothing and wrote the words for the hit song Endless Night.
除了编剧和导演外，泰莫还设计了服装并为热门歌曲《无尽的夜晚》作词。
 
Her job some 25 years ago was huge. She had to rewrite Disney's popular movie into a live show. She filled the stage with birds flying high on sticks and antelopes marching near the seats. The actors operate giant puppets in a movement popular in 16th-century Japanese theater.
大约 25 年前，她的工作非常繁重。她不得不将迪斯尼的热门电影改写成现场表演。她用棍子高高飞翔的鸟儿和在座位附近行进的羚羊填满了舞台。演员们在 16 世纪日本戏剧中流行的一种运动中操作巨型木偶。
"This is where theater is better than film. It completely surrounds you," Taymor said. "I had to use all the tools in the theater toolbox to make it dimensional and theatrical."
“这是戏剧优于电影的地方。它完全围绕着你，”Taymor 说。 “我必须使用剧院工具箱中的所有工具来使它具有立体感和戏剧性。”
 
Taymor did not cover up the wheels and poles that bring her puppets to life. The human beings that control the puppets and wear the animal masks are fully seen. It is the audience's job to add the imagination.
Taymor 没有掩盖使她的木偶栩栩如生的轮子和杆子。操纵人偶，戴着兽面面具的人类，尽收眼底。增加想象力是观众的工作。
 
She called it "the double event." That is where the audience not only watches the animals, they watch humans driving the story, too.
她称之为“双重事件”。在那里，观众不仅观看动物，还观看人类推动故事发展。
 
The Lion King made Taymor the first woman to win a Tony Award for best director of a musical. Many Broadway stars over the years have also performed in The Lion King.
《狮子王》让泰莫成为第一位获得托尼奖音乐剧最佳导演奖的女性。多年来，许多百老汇明星也曾在《狮子王》中演出。
 
There have been 28 Lion King productions since the first. It has been performed in nine different languages and seen by 110 million people. It has played over 100 cities in 21 countries.
自第一部以来，已有 28 部狮子王作品。它以九种不同的语言演出，有 1.1 亿人观看。它已在 21 个国家/地区的 100 多个城市播放。
 
Part of its long life is because of the movie connection and its simple-to-understand and family-friendly story. But it is also a big production that is not dependent on big-name stars.
它之所以长寿，部分原因在于它与电影的联系以及其简单易懂且适合家庭的故事。但它也是一部不依赖大牌明星的大制作。
 
Before it became a hit, Disney sent its top officials to a rehearsal. One film official suggested Taymor lose the puppetry when it came time for the main characters. She did not agree.
在它大受欢迎之前，迪士尼派出高层官员进行了彩排。一位电影官员建议泰莫在主角出现时放弃木偶戏。她不同意。
 
Taymor then set up a test at the Palace Theatre on Broadway. She presented the musical in three different ways — just facial makeup, half-mask, and her original idea.
Taymor 随后在百老汇的宫殿剧院进行了测试。她以三种不同的方式呈现这部音乐剧——纯面部化妆、半面罩和她的原创想法。
 
Then-Disney chief Michael Eisner liked her idea: "He said, 'The bigger the risk, the bigger the payoff,'" Taymor said. "How many people say that?"
当时的迪士尼首席执行​​官迈克尔艾斯纳喜欢她的想法：“他说，‘风险越大，回报越大，’”泰莫说。 “有多少人这么说？”