The musical was first performed at the
Beit Lessin Theater in
Tel Aviv in 1996, and at the
Nega Hall in
Jaffa, where it ran for 211 performances in front of approximately 300,000 viewers. The musical was produced in collaboration with Tamir Productions Ltd., and won the in the Musical of the Year category for 1996. The musical's songs, along with a shortened version of the story narrated by
Avi Yaffe as Packli the squirrel, were distributed on VHS. In December 1996, a film called "Jungle Hero" was produced for the
Israeli Children's Channel directed by Natan Gur Levy, documenting the behind-the-scenes of the show. At the end of November 2013, Classiclet released a
DVD containing the full version of the 1996 musical. Over time, this production, along with the musical's song cassette, became a
cult film among young people who watched it as children, and even "active screening" events were held based on it. In 2002, it returned to the stage once again for 30 performances in front of approximately 50,000 viewers, and auditions were held on the
Israeli Children's Channel for children to play the role of Mowgli. Between April 17, 2002, and
Sukkot 2003, the musical was performed at the
Ramat Gan Safari (produced by Miki Peled - Solan Productions), where an additional 200,000 people saw it. Afterward, the musical returned to halls throughout the country from Sukkot 2003 to the summer of 2004. In
Hanukkah 2013, the musical was staged by the
Beit Zvi acting school for 50 performances (in collaboration with Tamir Productions Ltd., who produced the first production of the musical), directed by Hanoch Rosen and featuring students from the class of 2013, Beit Zvi graduates, and children. In July 2014, the musical was staged again at the
Ramat Gan Safari produced by Miki Peled - Solan Productions.
2024 revival In August 2024, the musical returned to the stage, again directed by
Hanoch Rosen, and featuring actors who played in the original version.
Tuvia Tzafir as
Baloo the
bear,
Sassi Keshet as Bagheera the panther,
Eli Danker as Shere Khan the
tiger,
Yossi Toledo as Kaa the
snake, Avi Yaffe as Packli the
squirrel, and
Pini Kidron as the leader of the
elephants, with the actor
Eddie Alterman replacing the original monkey leader, who was
Yossi Toledo in the original production. The plot and text remained mostly the same, as did the songs, except for two: "Monkey King," which was replaced with a song about the monkey leader's desire to be like Mowgli, and "Dangers of the Jungle" by Bagheera, which was replaced with a song by Bagheera about a happy day in the jungle. To comply with laws restricting the employment of minors, in the revival there are eleven children playing Mowgli and Bana. In the original production, when
Tom Avni played Mowgli, this law was not enforced, so he only had one replacement:
Oshri Cohen. == Plot ==