The Julie Taymor stage conception of Disney’s animated movie has dominated Broadway for 25 years. Currently, in the US, there are four national tours in addition to the Broadway production.
Among the cast supporting those productions are Nick LaMedica, who plays Zazu, and Jackson Hayes, who appears as Young Simba in some productions.
LaMedica is from Newark, He started high school at Wilmington Charter before moving to Cab Calloway School of the Arts for his senior year. His commitment to acting crystallized after losing some friends in a car accident and suffering a sports injury.
“That’s sort of when things clicked, like, hey, life is short, things are precious, you know. There’s not a lot of time to do anything but what it is that inspires you. It’s about that same time that I was really getting into theatre, so, that’s when I kind of shifted gears and went full focus.”
Successful Broadway productions are constantly replacing and rotating actors among the various casts, meaning there are frequent rehearsals.
Hayes, who is 11, says you need to be ready for anything.
“The rehearsal process was very, very quick. We did it in like three weeks and me and my co-star, Jaxyn Damasco - she plays Young Nala - we got the opportunity to perform in L.A. during the middle of rehearsal, and we got to perform at the Pantages.”
The tour opens August 16th for a four week run at the Kimmel Center.
