Latest news with #MichaelReilly
CBC
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- CBC
Take a look behind the scenes at Disney's The Lion King
The long-running musical has returned to Calgary for the third time, and the CBC's Jenny Howe got to go behind the curtain at The Lion King. Here, she speaks with Mukelisiwe Goba, the performer who plays the spiritual guide Rafiki, and Michael Reilly, the puppet supervisor. (Photo credit: Broadway Across Canada)
Calgary Herald
26-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Calgary Herald
The man who keeps the Lion King's performers looking wild
Michael Reilly is the puppet master for the touring production of Disney's The Lion King. Photo by Supplied Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page. For almost 20 years, Michael Reilly has been helping The Lion King roar as it tours North America. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Calgary Herald ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Calgary Herald ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors As the touring production's puppet master, Reilly is in charge of the 230 puppets, masks and headdresses used in the show. Reilly worked for four years on the original Toronto production of The Lion King that opened in 1999. 'When the Toronto production closed, they asked me to be part of the touring company, but I had already been hired for the Toronto production of The Lord of the Rings,' says Reilly, who hails from Toronto. 'They kept asking me to join them, but I was busy with other shows until 2016. As soon as I was free I joined this tour,' says Reilly. Two of The Lion King's 17 travelling trucks carry the show's puppets and masks. Your weekday lunchtime roundup of curated links, news highlights, analysis and features. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again 'The largest puppet is the elephant, which comes down the aisle of the theatre in the opening number. It weighs 120 pounds and takes four people to operate. The smallest puppet is the mouse on the end of Scar's cane. The tallest puppets are the giraffes. We don't hire stilt walkers to operate them. We hire dancers, and it is my job to teach them to walk on the stilts. They have to climb six-foot ladders to get into those costumes.' Reilly says the masks the actors wear 'are extremely lightweight. They have to be, because the actors do eight shows a week. If they were heavy, it would be a great strain on their necks and heads. The heaviest masks weigh less than a pound.' 'These masks and headdresses are very durable, so the biggest repairs usually consist of replacing the strings that are used to secure them to the actors,' Reilly says. 'Scar's mask is electronic, so there is so much more that can go wrong. We are constantly having to tinker with the motor. There are some back-up masks and puppets, but just a few, so it is my team's responsibility to do repairs on the fly. We use everything you would at home just to get them back on stage. That means duct tape and crazy glue. 'They are constantly coming up with new ways to improve the puppets and masks so it keeps my job interesting.' The Lion King opened on Broadway in 1997. This touring company was created in 2002, and has played more than 10,000 performances in 90 cities, often more than once, years apart, and has been seen by more than 25 million people, making it the longest-running Broadway tour. When Reilly was 16 years old, he was hired as a costume assistant on the original Toronto production of CATS. Over the years, he has taken training in carpentry, electronics and metal work.
Edmonton Journal
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Edmonton Journal
The man who keeps the Lion King's performers looking wild
Michael Reilly is the puppet master for the touring production of Disney's The Lion King. Photo by Supplied For almost 20 years, Michael Reilly has been helping The Lion King roar as it tours North America. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Exclusive articles by David Staples, Keith Gerein and others, Oilers news from Cult of Hockey, Ask EJ Anything features, the Noon News Roundup and Under the Dome newsletters. Unlimited online access to Edmonton Journal and 15 news sites with one account. Edmonton Journal ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles, including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Exclusive articles by David Staples, Keith Gerein and others, Oilers news from Cult of Hockey, Ask EJ Anything features, the Noon News Roundup and Under the Dome newsletters. Unlimited online access to Edmonton Journal and 15 news sites with one account. Edmonton Journal ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on. Daily puzzles, including the New York Times Crossword. Support local journalism. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors As the touring production's puppet master, Reilly is in charge of the 230 puppets, masks and headdresses used in the show. Reilly worked for four years on the original Toronto production of The Lion King that opened in 1999. 'When the Toronto production closed, they asked me to be part of the touring company, but I had already been hired for the Toronto production of The Lord of the Rings,' says Reilly, who hails from Toronto. 'They kept asking me to join them, but I was busy with other shows until 2016. As soon as I was free I joined this tour,' says Reilly. Two of The Lion King's 17 travelling trucks carry the show's puppets and masks. Get the latest headlines, breaking news and columns. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again 'The largest puppet is the elephant, which comes down the aisle of the theatre in the opening number. It weighs 120 pounds and takes four people to operate. The smallest puppet is the mouse on the end of Scar's cane. The tallest puppets are the giraffes. We don't hire stilt walkers to operate them. We hire dancers, and it is my job to teach them to walk on the stilts. They have to climb six-foot ladders to get into those costumes.' Reilly says the masks the actors wear 'are extremely lightweight. They have to be, because the actors do eight shows a week. If they were heavy, it would be a great strain on their necks and heads. The heaviest masks weigh less than a pound.' 'These masks and headdresses are very durable, so the biggest repairs usually consist of replacing the strings that are used to secure them to the actors,' Reilly says. 'Scar's mask is electronic, so there is so much more that can go wrong. We are constantly having to tinker with the motor. There are some back-up masks and puppets, but just a few, so it is my team's responsibility to do repairs on the fly. We use everything you would at home just to get them back on stage. That means duct tape and crazy glue. 'They are constantly coming up with new ways to improve the puppets and masks so it keeps my job interesting.' The Lion King opened on Broadway in 1997. This touring company was created in 2002, and has played more than 10,000 performances in 90 cities, often more than once, years apart, and has been seen by more than 25 million people, making it the longest-running Broadway tour. When Reilly was 16 years old, he was hired as a costume assistant on the original Toronto production of CATS. Over the years, he has taken training in carpentry, electronics and metal work.
BBC News
15-06-2025
- BBC News
Taiwan's epic train ride through 50 tunnels and 77 bridges
The historic Alishan Forest Railway, once crippled by typhoons and earthquakes, is running again – and helping revive mountain villages, celebrate Indigenous heritage and redefine slow travel in Taiwan. A fun fact: it's not just cities that have twin destinations; heritage railways do, too. I learn this while riding south-western Taiwan's recently restored Alishan Forest Railway, which reopened in 2024 as a tourist train, 118 years after steam locomotives first hauled timber along its tracks. One of the most passionate advocates for its restoration is Michael Reilly, the former British Representative to Taiwan. He's also company secretary for Wales' Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway and the reason why, in 2022, the Alishan Forest's Railway became its twin. The union was cemented by the presentation of a diesel engine, once used in Alishan, now ferrying holidaymakers through the rolling hills of Powys, Wales. With international visitor numbers to Taiwan booming and new routes – including flights from Emirates, timed specifically to suit Taiwan-bound travellers from the UK – It's not hard to see why the Taiwan Railway Administration was so supportive of the endeavour. It's an opportunity to show off the island's less-explored regions, showing visitors that there's more to Taiwan than Taipei's sky-scraping Taipei 101 tower and famous night markets. But this railway is more than just a tourist train – it provides an insight into Taiwan's history, starting with its colonisation by Japan. It was 1900, five years into Japan's colonial rule of Taiwan, when Japanese railway technician Iida Toyoji surveyed a mountain route to carry Alishan's prized timber from forested peaks to the country's ports. The first sections were completed by 1907, and the first engines were Shay locomotives – American powerhouses capable of dragging tonnes of timber along the endless switchbacks and spirals. One of them earned a Guinness World Record for travelling the "world's longest railway spiral". The start and end of the Dulishan Spiral are only 570m apart, but an elevation difference of 233m means trains traveling on this stretch must negotiate 5km of twisting track to cover what would be a 570m straight-line distance. Other feats of engineering include numerous bridges that span Alishan's forested valleys and meandering tunnels dug though mountains shaped by landslides. At times, I find myself staring down at sections of track I passed moments before, losing the ability to keep count of the dizzying number of switchbacks, and every so often I glimpse the remnants of a small landside or a fallen cypress – a reminder of the challenges faced by railway engineers toiling away in a region where earthquakes are an almost monthly occurrence. In 1908, the Japanese company funding the railway suspended construction, citing financial problems, and the Government-General of Taiwan stepped in. By 1912 Shay steam locomotives were puffing along the twisting tracks once more. Passenger services started in 1920, but timber was still the main cargo and the trains ground to a halt in the 1960s as demand for wood declined. A huge fire in 1976 and the Jiji earthquake in 1999 disrupted the few passenger services still running, but the final nail in the coffin was the devastation wreaked by Typhoon Morakot in 2009, which suspended all services. Yet calls to restore the full 71km route from Chiayi, where those first steam trains puffed out of the station in 1907, to Alishan Station, 2,216m above sea level, never ceased. The railway had become a lifeline for Indigenous communities along the route, connecting them with schools, doctors and markets. Tourists, too, kept coming to ride the few still-operational sections. In 2013, with support from the Taiwan Railway Administration and the Forestry Bureau, limited operations resumed. In 2019, Taiwan's Ministry of Culture, keen to expand its tourist offerings, announced the creation of the Alishan Forestry and Railway Cultural Landscape. Restoration work continued, and in early 2024 the route reopened in its entirety. On 29 April, the first passenger train returned to the tracks. As I rumble through Alishan's cedar-scented forests, it's easy to see why the original engineers struggled. This alpine obstacle course features 50 bridges and 77 tunnels. Occasionally, on some of the steeper sections, I hear a shrill alarm from the train's cab – a warning that the wheels have slipped slightly. Large machines can't access much of the remote track, so railway sleepers were laid by hand. At one point, we swerve into a recently constructed tunnel; to its left is the dark, cavernous entrance of the old one, now perilously close to the rapidly eroding cliff face. One of the first stops is Lumachan, once a tobacco production hub, now ringed by rice paddies. When the railway fell into disrepair, the station and the nearby tobacco warehouses did too. But with services restored, the area has revived. The shiny new station, with its ornate tiled roof, is now the disembarkation point for passengers visiting the nearby Tobacco Cultural Park, where they can peek inside former tobacco warehouses. Further along is Fenqihu, which sprang up around its namesake train station. As one of the railway's larger stops, it had its own army of workers. "Fenqihu Station was a lot busier in the past," says villager Li Mao-Song, whose grandfather worked as a coal carrier. But the railway's rebirth is helping bring life back to the village. In a locomotive shed at one end of the platform I find a restored steam engine and an artefact-filled exhibition about the railway's history. An hour-long pause here allows passengers time to stretch their legs, and it's also a popular stop for walkers who come to hike the trails that weave through Alishan's forests. I'm waylaid, however, by the scents wafting from nearby food stalls. I opt for a bento box of turkey rice topped with soy sauce and daikon. It's a local delicacy once beloved by the train drivers and lumberjacks who'd stop here to rest and refuel, and now by tourists, who flock to the tiny restaurants and street food stalls surrounding the station. Back onboard, golden sunlight seeps through swathes of bamboo (grown and harvested by Alishan's Indigenous Tsou tribe), complete with a soundtrack of timber-tapping woodpeckers. More than half Taiwan's firefly species can be found here, and giant flying squirrels are regularly spotted. I'm admittedly disappointed that I fail to see a deer, who live here in huge numbers (Lumachan station's name is derived from the word luman, meaning "full of deer"). At each station, the conductor leans out the door and passes a token on a loop of rope to a stationmaster, who passes a different one back. The exchange is a nod to the railway's earliest days, when movement along the tracks was strictly controlled and trains could only progress onto the next section once conductors were in possession of the correct token. It's a ritual clearly cherished by railway employees. These employees would have been almost entirely male when the first steam engines hauled their cargo through Alishan's forests. More than a century later, the rail staff is decidedly more mixed. "Many people think railway workers will be male," says Lo Yu-Ting, who helps manage operational routes and was previously stationmaster at the railway's Zhushan Station, Taiwan's highest station. "But when I joined, I was so happy to find so many skilled women in different roles." More like this:• The return of Mexico's famous Tequila Express train• Scotland's most remote railway adventure• A 58-tunnel slow train through India's Eastern Ghats Lo believes the emphasis on teamwork plays a major role. "As a station master, I faced many challenges – managing trains and staff and dealing with natural disasters, which can be tough. But there's great support for employees. This allows me to take care of my two daughters while working." I meet Lo in Chiayi, the line's starting point. On the adjacent platform, Taiwan's high-speed trains flash past in a blur. In contrast, Alishan Forest Railway's red diesel engine roars to life, ready to haul its restored cedar-clad carriages skywards. Chiayi is a city shaped by cedar and cypress. In the early 1900s, many railway workers lived at nearby Hinoki Village, where their former cypress-wood homes have been lovingly preserved. It's now a magnet for tourists who come to slurp bubble tea in old drivers' houses or to snap up vases made from bamboo. Outside one of the squat wooden cottages stands the railway's mascot: a fibreglass deer sporting a baseball cap bearing the line's logo. At first the deer seems an unusual choice – I didn't spot a single one on during my time in Alishan. But deer have long symbolised longevity in Taiwan, and their cedar-coloured fur mirrors the forests this line winds through. Perhaps this cheerful cap-wearing ruminant is the perfect emblem for a railway that refuses to fade away. -- For more Travel stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram.
