The stage production features Phil Collins’ music (including the Grammy and Oscar-winning song “You’ll Be In My Heart”) and is based on the Disney animated film and original author Edgar Rice Burroughs’ story.Ĭast members include Smith, Rian Shepherd as Jane, McKelle Shaw as Tarzan's ape buddy Terk, Lauren Anderson as Tarzan's ape mother, Carson Davies as Jane's expedition guide, Jim Murphy as Porter, and Cairo McGee as young Tarzan and Lily Shepherd as young Terk. The story is about a baby boy raised by gorillas in West Africa and an unlikely love story between the wild boy and a cultured young woman. “I plan to make it the show people simply cannot miss," Mortensen said. Mortensen pushed the SCERA management to go for the show because it's a new and fresh musical many people will experience for the first time. I also wanted to evoke a sense of Carnival in Brazil and am using a pulsating drum beat throughout the show.” "I hope audiences will sense that the jungle is swirling and breathing all the time. The goal is to pull audiences into a rain forest, said Mortensen. He's arranging for Tarzan - played by former BYU football kicker Brian Smith - to swing from cargo netting and poles all across the stage and into the hillside-turned-jungle. Mortensen is including giant butterflies, a 25-foot anaconda snake puppet, a leopard puppet, monkeys and billows of colorful fabric in the show. "I want it to be a spectacle," Mortensen said, admitting he's blazing a trail as one of the first directors in the state to tackle putting the show on stage. OREM - Director Shawn Mortensen loves a spectacle, and that's what he's trying to create with "Tarzan the Musical" scheduled to open on the SCERA Shell Outdoor Theatre stage June 6. McKelle Shaw is Terk (in the background). Rian Shepherd is Jane.įormer BYU kicker Brian Smith is Tarzan in the SCERA Shell Outdoor Theatre production of "Tarzan the Musical" opening June 6. Former BYU kicker Brian Smith is Tarzan in the SCERA Shell Outdoor Theatre production of "Tarzan the Musical" opening June 6.įormer BYU kicker Brian Smith is Tarzan in the SCERA Shell Outdoor Theatre production of "Tarzan the Musical" opening June 6.