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"The Lion King" First Confirmed Show at New Eccles Theater

Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams
Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker and Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams unveil the first confirmed show at the Eccles Theater.

Salt Lake City’s new Broadway-style theater is still under construction but officials announced today they’ve already booked a show.

Disney’s The Lion King will hit the stage at the new George S. and Dolores Dore Eccles Theater in spring 2017 alongside an entire season of first-run touring Broadway projections. The 2015-2016 Broadway season will be announced in April. Salt Lake City Mayor Ralph Becker says while the Lion King has come through Utah before, it was a pared down version of the Broadway show.

“We’re getting a production that Salt Lake City has never seen before,” Becker says. “Because we have a theater now that will be able to accommodate the full show of Lion King.”

The 2,500 seat performance hall is the centerpiece. But the development also boasts a grand lobby, a black box theater and a new Regents Street development to the east that connects City Creek Center and Gallivan Center. Becker expects the street to be bustling year-round with patrons who come for the art and retail.

“All of these things are going on concurrently in a way I think is just going to just add a new exciting dimension and activity generator and economic generator for downtown Salt Lake and the whole region,” Becker says.

The theater is paid for with a combination of private donations and earmarked property taxes intended for downtown redevelopment. 

The planned opening is fall 2016. 

Whittney Evans grew up southern Ohio and has worked in public radio since 2005. She has a communications degree from Morehead State University in Morehead, Kentucky, where she learned the ropes of reporting, producing and hosting. Whittney moved to Utah in 2009 where she became a reporter, producer and morning host at KCPW. Her reporting ranges from the hyper-local issues affecting Salt Lake City residents, to state-wide issues of national interest. Outside of work, she enjoys playing the guitar and getting to know the breathtaking landscape of the Mountain West.
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