Chris Lewis hadn't thought much about his high-school senior quote before it was due. He had just seen the Disney movie The Lion King, and in an impetuous decision that would do the meerkat Timon proud, he chose Timon's favorite quote: "Hakuna matata." It proved prophetic.
At 26, he understudies the lead role of Simba and is in the touring ensemble of the Tony Award-winning puppet spectacle The Lion King, one of the most dazzling and successful shows ever to hit Broadway. The Disney tour made its long-awaited Orlando premiere Thursday night. It will run for six weeks at the Carr Performing Arts Centre.
Now that Lewis has taken Simba's journey, he can see that "Hakuna matata," Timon's worry-free mantra, is hard to live by. But that makes The Lion King alluring. Simba the lion and his jungle mates have lots of worries.
Big ones. Starvation, wildebeest stampedes, hyena thugs. On top of that, poor little Simba mistakenly thinks he caused his father's death.
"This story, for me, is the prodigal son," Lewis says. "The son goes away and tries to find himself," he says of Simba, heir to the throne. "It's the guilt and the pressure that he has within himself.
. . it's eating him inside.
He's restless, and he doesn't know where to go." Little Simba's journey is at the heart of The Lion King. As he grows, he realizes he can't flee from guilt, fear or persecution any longer.
He must go home and fight for his honor and his homeland. Lewis says that, as an African-American in a country still plagued by racism, he can empathize with Simba's pain. "Our culture, we've gone through a lot at times.
. . been beat down, saying, 'There's no way you're going to do this,' " he says.
But each civil-rights victory, each African-American student who gets a college education unavailable to his grandparents is proof, he says, that oppression is not invincible. "These are all things that say, 'You're going to rise,' " he says. " 'You're going to come up from that.
And you're going to be a better and a brighter person and a better unit as a culture because you have that hope.' " That's all subtext, Lewis says. Although the cast is largely African-American, the play doesn't talk about race.
It can mean many things to many people, which has endeared it to audiences across generations and cultures. Kids love the animal characters, the colorful scenery and the rare chance to see fellow children (the young Simba and his lioness pal Nala) shine in leading roles. Grownups can identify with Simba's catharsis and the moral tale about greed gone awry.
Or they can simply marvel at director/designer Julie Taymor's whimsical puppets and the clever machinations that bring them to life. The Lion King also enables Western audiences to get a better feel for South African culture. African-American dancer Garth Fagan won a Tony for his choreography.
And although the Grammy-winning music by Elton John and Tim Rice relies more on pop and showtune conventions than South Africa's rich musical heritage, South African composer Lebo M weaves in lovely Zulu choral undercurrents. Few South Africans have seen the musical, says South African actress Phindile Mkhize, who plays wise baboon Rafiki. But many are aware of it.
Those who have seen it, she says, are proud. "They are like, 'Oh, my God. This is home.
' " Disney's Lion King was a huge departure for the company, which looked to established theater artists such as puppetmaster Michael Curry to make their vision theatrical. The results stunned even the doubters. Meet the artists behind those puppets Sunday in Good Living.
Then read Sentinel theater critic Elizabeth Maupin's review of Lion King Monday in the Good Living Section. (Or get a sneak preview of the review Saturday, posted at OrlandoSentinel.com/attention by 11 a.
m.
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