The life of a standby in The Lion King is feast or famine. Sometimes if an actor I’m covering gets injured or sick, I could be on for up to a few days while he recovers. But that hasn’t really happened in the past few months. I usually know about their vacations in advance and can plan for those performances. But again, the vacations have been few and far between for Scar and Pumbaa. This week was different though! On Tuesday I was called in very last minute for Scar, and Thursday I played Pumbaa for two shows while Ben Lipitz was on vacation.
Ang brought Max to the Popejoy Theater’s backstage to say hello in between shows. Now, he’s only seen me as Scar once, recently in Greenville, and only one time in Pumbaa makeup when he was maybe six months old in Vegas. As a barely-two-year-old, I expected him to be confused and even put off by my appearance. I tentatively snuck up behind him to tickle him. He turned around, paused, looked me straight in the eye, and said, “Hi, Dada.”
No fooling my boy.
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
That’s a great post, Mike, now my new fav. Max is awesome!
so glad you all are capturing these moments!
Awwwwww!!! Max is just PRECIOUS and so LUCKY to have Pumbaa as his Dad!!
HAKUNA MATATA WHAT A WONDERFUL PHRASE!! LOL!!!!