Timothy McGeever's muscles ache. They're muscles the actor, who plays Zazu the hornbill bird in "The Lion King," never knew he had.
He blames it on the puppet. Like all the actors in the Disney musical extravaganza, which opens a six-week run here tonight, his character is a puppet, though the actors are clearly seen operating them.
"It's the most difficult puppet of the show," said McGeever, talking from Houston, where the show was making a stop.
"The toll it takes on your body is very strenuous. It tests me each night. My daily routine is one of preparing for the show, and then recovering from it."
The 15- to 20-pound puppet sits on McGeever's body. Zazu's torso is maneuvered by the actor's left hand, and McGeever's right hand operates the puppet's hands and eyes.
"It wasn't designed to be easy," he said. "I'm always reaching across my body. It uses a lot of small muscles that you aren't used to using. We have a physical therapist with us, and I'm very close to her right now."
Not that McGeever is complaining, mind you.
He's got a good-paying gig in one of the biggest musicals on Broadway and on the road.
"It's a wonderful feeling to go out there and entertain 2,000 or 3,000 people at a time," said McGeever, who generally performs in regional theater with much smaller audiences.
"I love being in a hit show, and it's nice to brighten people's days. The play's an event — it's a family-friendly show, and it's a lot of children's first experience in the theater, and that's a very special thing to be a part of."
The musical is magical — director Julie Taymor, who also designed the stunning costumes and the extravagant masks (with Michael Curry), turned a 90-minute animated movie into a sophisticated piece anchored in ritual theater of Asia and Africa. It's wildly theatrical and wonderfully accessible. And it's got that story of responsibility and loyalty and good and evil that speaks to many.
" 'Lion King' has become a central myth to us," said Damian Baldet, who plays the wise-cracking meerkat, Timon, and operates a 15-pound puppet while doing it (though Baldet says it feels like 35 pounds).
"It's a story about redemption, and I think that's something that resonates with people. I think everybody feels they are struggling, and they are the underdog, and everyone wants to believe everything will turn out all right, and that evil will be punished. 'The Lion King' tells that story particularly well."
Oh, there are other things he likes about it, too. Like his on-stage constant companion, the warthog Pumbaa.
"I get to hang around a big purple pig," said Baldet, "and I get to do fart jokes."
Now that would make aching muscles well worth it.
QUICK TAKE
The Lion King
Presented by: Broadway in Tucson/A Nederlander Presentation
Director: Julie Taymor
When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays; 8 p.m. Fridays; 2 and 8 p.m. and Saturdays; 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sundays. Continues through Sept. 24
Where: Tucson Music Hall (Main Stages map, Page XX)
Tickets: $23.50-$126, available in person at the Tucson Convention Center box office, or through Ticketmaster at 321-1000.
Running time: 2 hours, 40 minutes
