The Tour 'Lion King' welcomes all members of the Wharton Center, even the Fidgeters

For the next 3 weeks, royalty arrives at East Lansing: Disney's Lion King ascends the throne at Wharton Center, where it's nice to have the first word. For the Lion King, South African actress Mukelisiwe Goba uses her original language, Zulu, to announce that the Lion is en route.

"Yeah," here's the Lion. " Nants ingonyama bagithi baba " Here's the Lion "confirms Mukelisiwe Goba on the translation of the famous opening number of the Lion King

[Music from the opening number of Disney’s The Lion King, “The Circle of Life.”]

" Yeah, it's not easy. "Says Goba "I think that's why they always bring a South African to the show, so we can teach others how to pronounce themselves. He does not feel good when you hear something like … uh, you do not have to say that. & # 39; But, when we have people who know how to say that, it's good! "

While Mukelisiwe Goba has been part of the various castings of the Lion King over the past 6 years, his comrade Tony Freeman has made him for 18 years .11 including the Zazu puppet, who took a lot of training for perfect. "I thought that they were going to bring in somebody from Jim Henson Puppets and learn how to make the puppets." Freeman recalls. "I entered our first day at Broadway, they had a row of mirrors installed, they handed me the puppet and said, "Make it alive." and I thought to myself, "This is my workout?" Make it look alive! "And you train for hours in front of a mirror, so every expression of this puppet must be memorized by our arm and our hand, so that without even looking at it, we know what is the expression on his face, so that we can "

[Sample of Zazu singing “I Just Can’t Wait To Be King” from The Lion King.]

But, of course, sometimes with son errors occur as Mukelisiwe recalls Tony. "No, you should ask that to Tony, because that happened to you with you in your scene with Mufasa. "
" Oh yeah! "Said Tony, while Mukelisiwe starts to laugh during the narrative." I was like Scar and I'm supposed to kill Scar and our sons got tangled up, so he started falling with me, he started to attract me with him, of course, and they stopped him, and here we are both of them swinging in the air waiting to be rescued, but, you know, it's live theater … "

The Lion King will be in residence at the Wharton Center now until July 29, a special sensory morning is scheduled for Saturday, July 21st. This is the first step of Broadway to incorporate the friendly sensory experience at the Wharton Center

"It's a very special experience for us." said Freeman. "We only do this once a year, or once every two years, they called it" Autism-Friendly Performance ", because people from all over the spectrum came to see it, but now, so many people are interested in seeing the show, that now they call it just sensory, it's hard for actors because it can get very strong because you have people with Tourette, you have people who, you know, become very noisy in their responses to what they see, so the actors must stay really focused.The lights do not fall completely. "

" Yes, it's something else, "adds Goba, "we can see them, like, move, but it's okay."

"But that means a lot to the kids and their parents," Freeman continues. "You know, that they can bring their children to see a live show, that they would normally feel like" I do not want to annoy everyone around me. "So, it's a chance to take your child to the theater, and just feel comfortable and enjoy the show. So we like, we like to do it."

"Oh yeah Goba said. "I wish we could think, like, maybe twice a month, it's really good."

Freeman adds, "It's really beautiful."

Mukelisiwe Goba is Rafiki and Tony Freeman will be a few characters in The Lion of Disney King at the Wharton Center now until July 29th. Tickets and more info on Wharton Center.com