Garth Fagan, Award-winning Choreographer of ‘The Lion King’ Honored By National Museum of African American History & Culture
On Monday, February 20, 2023, the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History & Culture and Walt Disney's The Lion King held a Celebration of Garth Fagan, a Tony, Olivier, and Helpmann award-winning choreographer of The Lion King and founder of Garth Fagan Dance.
Presented at The Oprah Winfrey Theater, the program with performance was directed and written by Rufus Bonds Jr., with reimagined Garth Fagan choreography by Norwood Pennewell, new choreography by Norwood Pennewell and Natalie Rogers-Cooper, with additional staging from The Lion King by Ruthlyn Salomons.
The performance featured dancers from The Lion King, including Michelle Camaya, Willia Noel Montague, Karine Plantadit, and Bravita Threatt with Daria Clarke, Keisha Clarke Gray, Sabrina Cmelak, John Crim, Steve Humphrey, Ira Lindsay, Nathan McNatt Jr., Norwood Pennewell, Natalie Rogers-Cropper and Gabrielle Samuel from Garth Fagan Dance.
L. Steven Taylor (The Lion King Broadway) served as the program narrator, with vocalist Nova Payton, and featured percussionists from The Lion King, Horace Junior Wedderburn, and Rolando Morales-Matos. Additional credits include Lighting Designer Jeanne Koenig, Lighting Programmer Haley Burdette, and Stage Manager Cherie B. Tay.
The program concluded with comments from Denise Robinson Simms, Associate Director of External Affairs, National Museum of African American History and Culture the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and The Lion King’s Tony Award-winning director Julie Taymor and Sara Nash and Greg Reiner, Director of Dance and Director of Theater & Musical Theater for the National Endowment for the Arts, who presented and read a letter of congratulations to Fagan from President, Joe Biden.
