In the court of 'The Lion King'

June 29, 2011, in London's West End. Ten minutes to go before the curtain rises in the Lyceum Theater, and the coliseum is overflowing - even though The Lion King has been showing there for over 12 years. Behind the red velvet curtain, the zebras are painting their faces with a tool that has nine aligned brushes that alternate between black and white. The actress playing Rafiki closes her eyes so the last rays can be painted on her face and the light crew is waiting to cast the orange light of the African dawn of the first scene, designed by its creator Julie Taymor, and based on the movie.

In the passageways that run backstage in the Lyceum, where the play is now an icon, one can access the well-guarded secrets of The Lion King. Masks that are hand-controlled by the actors, the stunning costumes designed by Taymor - African stones and seashells hand sewn one by one into the lions' corsets - and the jewel of the production: the collection of puppets that transform the actors into the grassland's fauna. One of the more complicated, the bird Zazu, King Mufasa's trusty assistant, is a collection of hooks, poles and mechanisms worth $14,000. The actor that carries the bird, Steven, spent two years practicing in the mirror to make sure that his hands would be invisible to the spectator's eye. With more than 70 international awards, 60 million tickets sold throughout the world, the celebrated musical The Lion King has finally made it to Madrid's Gran Vía, where it will run for at least three years.

The French capital decided to extend its run and Spain had to wait

"Once Disney gives the go-ahead, you have to work arm in arm with them"

It took years of effort and an investment of 10 million euros to make Simba a new home in the Lope de Vega Theater, which had to undergo renovations in order to prepare for the show.

The story of The Lion King is now established as a modern-day classic. A type of Hamlet passed through Disney's rites and regulations, it's the drama of a prince who seeks to recapture his legitimate right to the throne after the murder of his father by his evil uncle, with music by Elton John, Tim Rice, Hans Zimmer and the South African composer Lebo M.

The importance of last week's premiere in Madrid goes beyond the glitter and fame of Simba's court. It is the first time the musical can be seen in the Spanish language, and the first time it is performed in a Spanish-speaking country.

The process to bring it here was arduous. A Spanish version of The Lion King has long been one of the main goals of production company Stage, which was responsible for the play's 10-year run in Hamburg. Stage made an attempt to bring Disney's musical here three years ago. Casting calls were made, but the fact that the show is performed in several cities at once meant that it had to finish in one of them before the equipment could be used in Madrid. The show in Paris was expected to end then, meaning Spain could finally get to see it, but the French capital decided to extend its run. Stage, and Spain, had to wait.

When the Paris show finally did end, things were put in motion. "Once Disney concedes the license, you have to work arm in arm with them all the way. They are very protective of the brand; you have to present a feasibility study in the beginning, and later consult them on each aspect of the assembly, all of which has to be approved by them," explains a Stage representative. This is a long process, but Stage was already used to it after it had brought Beauty and the Beast to Madrid.

This time round, auditions were held over the summer of 2010, though the actor playing Simba wasn't cast until March of this year, and casting directors had to fly to Mexico to search him out. There, they found Carlos Rivera, a recent graduate of La Academia, Mexico's version of Spain's Operación Triunfo, who had incidentally won the Mexican TV talent contest with a song from The Lion King.

Rehearsals, which lasted two months, began this summer in Madrid's Canal Theaters, while the Lope de Vega was being renovated. Many of those who go to see the show will find that the song lyrics they have memorized are not the same as those in this musical. Translator Jordi Galcerán was in charge of completely reworking the lyrics from direct translations to more meaningful phrases. For example, the prince's Circle of Life is El ciclo sin fin in the Spanish version of the movie, but in the play it is El ciclo vital. In addition, aspects that reflect local culture have been added - there is a bit of flamenco and a few winks at Spanish culture.

While more than half of the cast is foreign, including those covered by Julie Taymor's clause that stipulates that a certain number of the actors must be African, the children who play young Simba and Nala in the Gran Vía musical are Spanish. "The children were sent to The Lion King school, an academy where they took dance, singing and acting lessons. From the initial auditions, 11 were chosen, and they are the ones in the cast," says Julia Gómez-Cora, Stage's director.