Star-studded doo-wop show featuring The Tokens at NSMT Aug. 6

BEVERLY – Jay Siegel, original lead singer of The Tokens, will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the hit “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” with a star-studded doo-wop show at the North Shore Music Theatre at 8 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 6.Produced by Harvey Robbins, the show will also feature Jay Traynor, the original lead singer of Jay and The Americans (“She Cried”); 1950s teen idol Jimmy Clanton (“Venus in Blue Jeans,” “Just A Dream”); Tony Funches, former lead singer of The Platters, (singing hits, “Only You,” “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes,” “The Great Pretender”); Bill Godwin’s Inkspots, (“My Prayer,” “If I Didn’t Care”); and The Jarmels, stars of the 2011 PBS-TV special, (“A Little Bit of Soap?Will Wash Away My Tears”).In the audience will be Estelle Monahan and her son, David, both Boston-area family members of the late George David Weiss who helped write the lyrics for “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” recorded by The Tokens in 1961. This song was based on a South African Zulu song first recorded in the 1930s, was given a reworked melody and new lyrics (“In the jungle, the mighty jungle/The Lion sleeps tonight”) by Mr. Weiss and his partners Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore. Their adaptation, which kept the refrain – “Wimoweh, wimoweh” – popularized in a 1950s version by the Weavers, became a million-selling hit for the Tokens. Widely recorded since, the song has been used in many motion pictures, including “The Lion King” in 1994. Mr. Weiss also participated in “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” recorded by Elvis Presley and “What a Wonderful World,” recorded by Louis Armstrong. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1984.Tickets ($55/inner; $45.50/all other; subscribers’ discount: $49.50 and $40.50) are now on sale a the North Shore Music Theatre Box Office at 62 Dunham Road, Beverly, online at nsmt.org, or by calling 978-232-7200.