You could be an aspiring lawyer who sings in a choir. You could be
playing a man in love with a transvestite in a big Broadway hit.
Or you could be someone with a penchant for playing smarmy but charming
Shakespearean villains.
However convoluted, these paths all led to one place — a spot
in the national tour of Disney's "The Lion King," which
stops for six weeks at the Orange County Performing Arts Center
starting tonight.
Part of the Disney Company's passion for turning its animated films
into big Broadway musicals, "The Lion King" is based on the
hit 1994 movie of the same name. The story is set on the African savanna
and revolves around the pride of lions who rule the land. Their king
is Mufasa, and the story begins when he and his queen, Sarabi, present
their son and heir, the cub Simba, to their subjects.
Simba lives happily with the pride for a few years, playing with his
friend, a female cub named Nala. Then one day, he and Mufasa are caught
in a wildebeest stampede, started on purpose by Mufasa's power-hungry
brother Scar and his gang of hyenas. Mufasa is trampled to death, and
Scar manages to convince Simba it was his fault. Simba runs away into
the jungle, and is adopted by meerkat Timon and warthog Pumbaa.
Many years after Mufasa's death, the grown-up Nala runs away from the
pride, which has been badly taken care of by Scar, into the jungle.
There, she finds Simba, who has grown up into a big, strong, though
still uncertain, lion and convinces him he must come back and face his
destiny.
The film featured songs by Elton John and Tim Rice, including hummable
numbers such as "Hakuna Matata," "Can You Feel the Love
Tonight' and "The Circle of Life." It also spawned a television
cartoon, countless books and several animated straight-to-video sequels.
However, when it came to staging the film as a musical eight years
ago, Disney decided to do something different. The company hired director
Julie Taymor, known for her mythical approach to theater. Taymor gave
the show a sophisticated edge, adding more musical numbers, fleshing
out the characters, particularly the female ones, and, most important
of all, rejected the plush-type animal costumes used by Disney theme
parks and ice shows in favor of intricate creations consisting of puppets,
masks and African fabrics.
Taymor's vision led to numerous awards and accolades (she became the
first female director to win a Tony), and actors leaped at the chance
to embody not just lions, but hyenas, birds and giraffes.
Adia Ginneh, who plays the grown-up Nala, was entranced enough by the
show that she gave up on her plans to become a lawyer. True, the Cincinnati
native had spent her childhood and college years studying singing, focusing
on opera: "But after I got my degree, I decided I didn't want to
be a singer," said Ginneh. "I was planning to go to law school."
Then, her church choir was asked to provide the backing vocals for
some "Lion King' actors previewing the show for Cincinnati investors
a few months before the tour was to hit that city (Costa Mesa got its
visit last fall).
After performing in that gig, Ginneh looked up audition notices for
the show online. She drove to Alabama to audition — and she got
the job.
"I hadn't done a musical since high school," she said. "But
I said, 'I don't want to be 65 and look back and see I didn't try."
It's a wonderful role for a young woman like myself."
The musical's Nala has a much bigger part than the one in the film,
including a solo number not in the film, called "Shadowlands."
"She's got more story to tell," Ginneh said. "Scar has
made some advances toward her, and she goes out to find a new home.
'Shadowlands" goes through those emotions."
Ginneh could relate to her character in spite of the species difference.
"The story of her going out into the unknown, I liken to my own
getting on the show, taking a chance, not going back home," she
said.
When Ginneh got the job, her opera training came in handy. "They
asked me to sing in ways I hadn't done before," she said.
Ten years of ballet lessons also helped.
But Ginneh was not as prepared for Taymor's elaborate lioness costume.
"The trickiest part is the corset that I wear," said Ginneh.
"The corset is all beaded, and in the fight scenes, I lose beads."
The headpiece, which includes a lioness mask, is another challenge.
"It weighs next to nothing, but it protrudes 1 1/2 feet, and I
forget it's there, I always run into things," she said.
Then there's the half-hour of makeup before each show. Add to that
the dancing, singing and acting and you've got a tired bunch of animals
at the end of the night.
"Physically, it's a very taxing show," Ginneh said.
But, she adds, "I don't have it as hard as the others."
Actor Larry Yando, who plays Scar, carries about 40 pounds a show,
including a moving headpiece that requires a battery. It makes the New
York native glad his character uses a walking stick of sorts.
"Boy, those costumes are heavy," said Yando. "When I
got the part, my friends said, 'You don't walk away from that show,
you limp away."'
But Yando has no interest in limping anywhere.
"I still love this show, after two years. I can't believe it,"
he said. "It never fails to reach the audience. Everyone freaks
out, they leave the theater charged."
That energy is what drew Yando to "The Lion King," though
he had no previous professional musical experience to speak of. Though
he has plenty of experience playing villains.
"It's a character I like to play, the funny, smarmy villain,"
he said. "Those intellectually superior, damaged individuals."
After growing up in New York, Yando moved to Chicago to study theater.
He landed many villainous roles, mostly in Shakespeare plays including
"Othello' (as Iago) and "Richard III." Scar, he said,
reminds him a bit of Richard III; both characters are underestimated,
are nefarious, and have a limp.
But one thing Yando said drew him to try a Disney show was Taymor's
stylized approach to the show's animal characters.
"No one is tricking you into thinking there's a lion, or giraffe,
or elephant on stage," Yando said. "I definitely don't look
like a lion, it's all sort of hinted at.
"It's all in how we behave. Sometimes I behave as a person, sometimes
the animal part takes over. When (Scar) is aggressive, the lion characteristics
come out. No one is trying to trick anyone. It's surprising and sort
of fun."
Apart from channeling his inner beast, the job also included him getting
used to touring.
"I've never been on tour. Plays don't do many tours. Pretty much
what makes money on tour is musicals," he said. "I've gotten
to the point where I don't totally unpack any more."
But coming to Costa Mesa for six weeks means a chance for actor Rufus
Bonds Jr. to unpack. Bonds, who plays Mufasa, is based in Los Angeles
when not touring.
"It's a great role, in terms of how it speaks to people,"
said Bonds, who was also in the Los Angeles cast of the show when it
was at the Pantages theater in 2001. "It makes them reflect on
their lives."
Playing Simba's father also hit home in a different way: when Bonds
got the part in the L.A. company, his son was born. Before that, he
played Tom Collins in the smash Broadway hit "Rent." But playing
a Bohemian in love with a transvestite didn't offer the same challenges
as playing a lion.
"I looked at a lot of National Geographic specials," he said.
"I studied their bodies, how they move.
When he auditioned for the L.A. cast, he had to put his research to
use.
"Julie Taymor said, 'Act like an animal," " Bonds said.
It was a new experience for the Cleveland native, who studied chemistry
at the University of Cincinnati, but after graduation ditched a career
as a chemist ("I didn't want to be a lab tech") to go study
voice at the university's Conservatory of Music.
At the Conservatory, he began doing musicals, and then decided to move
to New York and take his chances.
"I went to New York, I had nothing on my resume," Bonds said.
"But I treated it like a business. I got up early every day and
looked for work. Now I tell people, New York isn't scary. If you have
talent, you can go to New York and make it happen."
Bonds landed a number of big shows, including "Miss Saigon' and
"Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat."
After moving to Los Angeles, he worked in not just "The Lion King,"
but also in Deaf West's "Big River," a sign language retelling
of "Huckleberry Finn."
"It was amazing, just to sit in the midst of people speaking another
language," he said, adding he had to learn an entirely different
approach to acting, since sign language relies on gesture and expression
instead of sound. "Sometimes, your body gets in the way."
In "The Lion King," it is the costume that gets in the way.
Though, like Yando, Bonds wears a battery-operated headpiece, he only
wears it for a while.
Still, it was a challenge for him.
"It took six months to get used to it," Bonds said. "I've
been with it four years. I've learned you can't fight the puppet. The
puppet always wins."
