Costume specialist Marina Toybina has accomplished a major milestone in her profession by assembling the outfits for Disney’s “The Lion King” 30th anniversary spectacle held at the Hollywood Bowl.
The live concert was recorded in May 2024 and is now streaming on Disney+.
2024 saw Toybina welcoming EbMaster to her Glendale studio a week prior to the performance. A sense of tranquility pervaded the space, adorned with animal prints and fabrics. Cutters and helpers were engrossed at their workstations, focused on their tasks. Toybina casually mentioned, “I haven’t delved into my principles yet…that’ll happen on Friday.” Despite any apparent stress, she didn’t seem to radiate it.
It’s quite intriguing, isn’t it? Will she manage it? Or is it even possible for her? But here’s the twist – yes, she manages to accomplish it with an ease that leaves one astonished.
Toybina, known for her work on “The Masked Singer” and “Beauty and the Beast: A 30th Celebration”, has experience handling high-pressure situations and thrives on complex projects. Disney’s celebration of “The Lion King” at its 30th anniversary was an immersive concert event tracing the franchise’s transformation from the 1994 animated film into a Tony Award-winning musical, and the 2019 and 2024 live-action adaptations. The cast includes veterans of the original animation like Jeremy Irons and Nathan Lane (Scar and Pumbaa), as well as Billy Eichner (Timon from the 2019 remake), Jennifer Hudson, Heather Headley, and North West. This project is one of Toybina’s biggest yet, featuring ten main actors and thirty dancers.
Prior to securing the job, Toybina disclosed her extensive familiarity with “The Lion King” franchise, encompassing every version from the film series to the television spin-offs. However, given that this would be a stage production, one of her initial actions was to collaborate with the Broadway team. As she put it, “I aimed to ensure that the main characters stood out against the backdrop projections without overshadowing what had already been established in the Broadway performance.” To maintain clarity and avoid any confusion between the Broadway production and her own work, she arranged a call to align their visions and establish a clear boundary between them. Her designs were not intended to replicate those of the Broadway team but rather to complement them.
Beyond that, Toybina spent considerable time scrutinizing photographs for her study. “We examined everything from zebra ears to giraffe tails, every color of animals, and even rhino horns,” Toybina chuckles, “we got a close-up view of it all.
Toybina ensured cultural authenticity while creating tribal patterns. As she put it, “These are traditional South African tribal designs. It was crucial to get the colors, accessories, and distinctiveness right, and avoid any overlap or borrowing from other cultures.
When it came to designing the costumes, Toybina’s method was to divide them by characters. She developed a style guide and mood board for Hudson, which were subsequently shared with her stylist and team. Similarly, the designs for West, portraying Young Simba, were given to their respective stylists and teams. “I have a clear vision of how the entire production will look,” Toybina notes about the project. For West, who sings the song “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King,” Toybina took extra care on the board to ensure it reflected her desired aesthetic and mood.
After obtaining the necessary items, it came down to choosing fabrics, patterns, and colors. Additionally, she needed to think about any rapid costume changes. “I have three hyenas,” she says. “They wear masks for a while, then go backstage, put on capes, and transform into wildebeests.
As a movie buff with a knack for creating lifelike animal costumes, I found myself tasked with breathing life into rhinos, zebras, and elephants from the Pride Land. To achieve this, I relied heavily on bodysuits as the foundation for most designs, enhancing them with airbrushed stencils or hand-painted details. Each costume was designed to be lightweight yet sturdy enough for dance performances, ensuring both durability and comfort for the dancers.
At times, not all pieces were uniquely crafted; some elements were derived from commercially available materials as indicated by Toybina. For instance, at one point, I was purchasing weave baskets from Joann’s to be modified and reused. Eventually, these very baskets became part of the elephant troupe.
After successfully creating costumes for “Beauty and the Beast” and “The Lion King” productions on stage, Toybina now dreams of adding designing costumes for a live-action Disney film to her list of achievements. Here’s hoping, Disney!
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2025-05-24 19:47