The Mane Event

‘Lion King’ roars into Little Rock

Courtesy Photo Gerald Ramsey has played Mufasa on the "Lion King" tour for three years.
Courtesy Photo Gerald Ramsey has played Mufasa on the "Lion King" tour for three years.

Disney's "The Lion King" roars into Little Rock's Robinson Center Performance Hall this weekend for a three-week engagement.

The two-decade-old road show shares the same shape and staging as the Broadway version, envisioned by Julie Taymor, who directed, designed the costumes and co-designed the show's integral masks and puppets. And as in the Disney animated film on which it's based, Simba (Gerald Caesar), the leonine heir apparent, is shouldered aside by his Uncle Scar (Mark Campbell) after the wicked schemer engineers the death of Simba's royal father, Mufasa (Gerald Ramsey).

FAQ

‘The Lion King’

WHEN — 6:30 p.m. April 22; 7:30 p.m. April 24-27; 2 & 7:30 p.m. April 28; 1 & 6:30 p.m. April 29; 7:30 p.m. May 1-4; 2& 7:30 p.m. May 5; 1 & 6:30 p.m. May 6

WHERE — Robinson Center Performance Hall in Little Rock

COST — $33-$150

INFO — 501-244-8800 or 866-870-2717

Ramsey, a native of the island of Aunu'u in American Samoa and raised in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, was studying anthropology at the University of Hawaii at Hilo while working as a Polynesian dancer on the side when the opportunity came up to join the "Lion King" company.

He has been ruling the animal kingdom on the road for 2 1/2 years and this is his first major acting role.

"When I tell people I'm an actor -- it still sounds funny to say that out loud," he says. "The word doesn't really flow off my tongue.

"This is a completely new world as far as being a professional actor; as far as telling stories through song and dance, where I come from, in the Pacific, that's the way we've always passed on our stories -- but without a paycheck."

Even more unusual: Not only is he pretty much starting at the top, the national tour of one of the world's most popular musicals, he's starting out at a pretty advanced age.

"I'm in my early 30s," he says. That's pretty old, especially in lion years. "Old enough to have a cub -- that's a good way to put it," he adds.

And, he admits, he has some big, er, shoes to fill, up to and including those of the legendary James Earl Jones, who provided Mufasa's voice for the movie.

"I'm so glad that the directors, right when we started rehearsals, said, 'We don't want you to be James Earl Jones' -- that was a great weight off my shoulders," he says. "The story culturally pulls from Africa, but it's incredible how many parallels it draws on with the Pacific cultures, specifically ancestry, connection to your past and how they're still with you no matter where you go."

Does being king mean he must exude a bit more stage presence? "Definitely," he says.

-- Eric E. Harrison

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

NAN What's Up on 04/22/2018

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