Tarzan in Anglophone Musicals

Hello there, how’s your day been? Have you seen an anglophone Tarzan Musical in your lifetime? 

The first known significant Tarzan musical (or more accurately, the first musical based on a Tarzan work wholesale) was made by Johnny Simons and Douglas Ballantine in 1977. It was named Tarzan of the Apes because it was based similarly on the first Tarzan book. The casts in both the original and 1988 revival runs consist of largely anonymous actors who played Tarzan, Jane Porter and others.  

Then came the original version of the legendary Tarzan Rocks! It was the Broadway Musical’s spiritual predecessor, which lasted for six and a half years, from July 1999 to January 2006. John Coulter has had such a good Tarzan portrayal that he himself reprised for an unaired pilot of a scrapped live action show. It had the working name of Tarzan’s Animal Friends and was the ‘spiritual pilot episode’ for what would become the famed tv show, Disney’s Legend of Tarzan. 

The Broadway Musical is the first major Tarzan musical in both SD+HD formats and its eponymous brand’s internationally best-known musical overall, due to being based mostly on the Disney movie. The first actors for both Broadway Adult Tarzan and Jane are Josh Strickland and Jennifer Gambatese. The two then-youngsters playing Broadway Kid Tarzan are the now grown-up Alex Rutherford and Daniel Manche. 

The Tuacahn Musical is often more popular in the long run than its older Broadway sibling, having been airing on the Tuacahn theatre of Utah since 2010. It first starred Payton Kemp, James Royce Edwards and Summer Broyhill as Kid Tarzan, Adult Tarzan and Jane. 

A Tarzan musical was made in 2019 for the Inner West of Sydney. The inner west cast has Jacob Steggles as young Tarzan, Stefan Jamal as Tarzan, and Brooke Conklin as a spunky Jane Porter. There is also a Tarzan musical in Melbourne which has closed recently in 2024. It likely has some of the same cast as the European musicals. 

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