The Lion King musical won six Tony Awards.
The stage adaptation premiered in Minneapolis in July 1997 before opening on Broadway at the New Amsterdam Theatre in October of that year. At the 1998 Tony Awards, it won Best Musical, the ceremony’s top prize for a musical, along with five design and production honors.
Its winning categories included Best Direction of a Musical for Julie Taymor, Best Choreography for Garth Fagan, Best Scenic Design for Richard Hudson, Best Costume Design for Taymor, and Best Lighting Design for Donald Holder. These awards recognized the production’s distinctive puppetry, masks, costumes, sets, and movement.
A common mix-up is to count nominations rather than wins. The musical received nominations in several additional categories, including acting, book, original score, and orchestrations, but those nominations do not increase the total of six victories. Taymor also became the first woman to win the Tony for Best Direction of a Musical.