In the musical, Zazu is a puppet controlled by an actor dressed in blue striped clothes and a bowler hat much like a stereotypical butler. Zazu's blue feathers have been replaced with white and the puppet is partially constructed from parachute silk with a slinky contained in the neck for ease in movement.
Zazu, like in the Platinum Edition of the film, sings the song "The Morning Report" before being pounced on by Simba. The musical version of the song is longer than its film counterpart (in the Spanish version of the musical and in recent performances starting in 2010, the "Morning Report" is deleted, leaving the song not included in the recently-performed regional albums).
In certain English productions of the show (and in the Spanish one), Zazu breaks the fourth wall. In the original Broadway production when, being blocked by curtains at the beginning of the "I Just Can't-Wait to Be King" number, shouts out "This didn't happen in the movie!" or "These look like shower curtains from Target!" (Ikea in some productions) and also, at the end of the number, the puppet is taken from his head and he cries out "Give me back my bird!" The Memphis tour changes the curtain reference to "Graceland"; the London production "IKEA", and the Hawaii production "Hilo Hattie". The Toronto production had him make references to Honest Ed's, the original business of the theater's owner, Ed Mirvish. Zazu also attacks his puppeteer, stating, "This is your fault!"
In the Spanish production, he uses: "This didn't happen in the movie"; "This is your fault!" and (speaking to the conductor): "Stop this!".
