Where Seattlest Interviews Dionne Randolph (The Lion King's Mufasa)
Dionne Randolph as “Mufasa” in THE LION KING National Tour. ©Disney. Photo Credit: Joan Marcus.
So when we heard that the show would be making another stop at the Paramount in its Broadway Across America tour, we signed right up and hopped on the phone with Dionne Randolph, who has been playing Mufasa in the touring production for years now. (The Lion King opens at the Paramount this Wednesday, and will run through March 15. Tickets and showtimes at the Paramount website.)
I read that you started your acting career in a Lion King show at Disney World.
Yeah, that was years ago. I've been involved with the Lion King now for 15, 16 years? I was working at Disney before the movie came out. Then, that same day, they opened a show in the Magic Kingdom, which was a puppet show called the Legend of the Lion King. That was my first experience with the entity as it was.
Were you Mufasa in that show as well?
That show was very different because it was all puppets. The way it worked is the stage the audience saw was actually about 15-20 feet above where the actors stood, down in the pit. We controlled these puppets above us that were attached by pipes and wires and things, so the audience only saw the puppets on the stage. They never saw an actor, or anything. James Earl Jones, Whoopi Goldberg, different people came to record voice-overs for that show, so we just lip-synced the puppets to the show. So I would do the lip sync of Mufasa for the opening of the show, then you'd move on to, say, Pumba's legs. I remember the adult Simba puppet in that show had like 10 puppeteers that operated him. So it was one of those type of shows. More about the puppets than the actual singing and the actors.
So what was it like for you to take that to the stage and become Mufasa? Were you drawing from the cartoon, or just trying to create a character informed by that world but in a different world?
In the very beginning, I remember when I was on that Lion King show, we were behind the puppets of Simba and Mufasa at that point, and I remember saying to one of the other puppeteers, "You know, if this show ever goes to Broadway, I'm going to be in the show and I'm going to play this role." I remember saying that to my friend Dan who's now an expert puppeteer with the Disney Channel. But I never thought when it opened...I saw this particular production when it opened was very different from the movie, very different from traditional Disney. It required a lot more from the actor. I actually thought, "Wow, I don't know if I can do that." As I got into the show and learned it, it's a completely different entity than the movie. It's actually a completely different emotional experience than what you get from the show.
This show has been going for several years now. What do you think it is about the story that continues to draw audiences?
I've always said the Lion King, of course, is a visual experience. But one of the biggest things, I think the main thing about it, is that it's a story I think everybody can relate to. I was just talking last night to our resident director about that. We still care about the story that we're telling. It's a very important story, especially in any kind of economic climate in this country....It's a story of family and responsibility, and it's told with beautiful scenery and a [beautiful] setting. But the [theme] of the show is always remember who you are, where you come from, even in your darkest times that'll give you strength. And everybody of every religion and every race can take something from the show. I think that's why. I've seen the show a couple of times [laughs], and I still learn something about myself seeing the show and falling into the storyline of the Lion King. It's definitely the moving aspect of it, emotionally, that keeps the show going. It's very unique in that way, I believe.
How do you personally stay invested in this character since you've been playing him for so long?
That's just it. You know that what you're doing is actually changing people's lives. It's not a show...I'm sure a lot of people believe in the beginning...it's a Disney show. It's Disney, high-spirited entertainment, but it's actually a lot deeper than that. The South Africans in our show who went through Apartheid...there's of course a South African influence in our show being that it's set in Africa, keeps it on another level of entertainment. There are so many people invested in our show and the story we're telling to the people that come out of it each night in tears. That's why we keep doing it. It's a show you want to be a part of, as opposed to "Oh I got a job." Every performance, you know from the beginning with "Circle of Life" that the majority of the audience is going to leave the theater transformed.
I remember I saw this show several years ago, it's been a while. I remember the costumes were amazing. It almost seems like the costumes are half the character. Do you feel like, when you step into that costume, you're just transformed?
That's a question I've been asked before: what do I do to prepare to get into the role for this show? I'm a unique actor in the sense that Mufasa, for me, lives onstage and I have to be Dionne Randolph offstage. When I get in costume backstage, the other actors and I joke around and I'm still a little bit Dionne. But as soon as we go onstage and you see all the costumes and everyone working as a unit to create this landscape, you become that character. It takes so much emotional energy before the physical energy to prepare to bring Mufasa to life that I have no energy for him offstage. It all has to be onstage so I can give him 150 percent every night. That's how it works. Once you're onstage, that's what gets it for me because everybody's in [costume]. The cheetah—one of my good friends Nicole—just to see her moving across the stage, you want to keep your character up in his performance level as high as she's doing, as the giraffes are doing, as everyone is always doing. So it's a group effort to keep the show clean, and the costumes are a big part of that. Of course the actors are creating what they are in that costume.
What's your favorite sandwich?
My favorite sandwich? [laughs] Wow. Okay. That's interesting. My favorite sandwich...I'm a very specific eater. There's a lot of stuff I don't eat. So I'm going to say I really like any type of fried fish sandwich. That's something I like to treat myself to on occasion.
