Jewish actor Sam Linda is the pride of ‘Disney’s The Lion King’ coming soon on tour to PPAC

PROVIDENCE – The touring production of “Disney’s The Lion King,” which is returning to the Providence Performing Arts Center stage in May after first visiting in 2011, is a mega-hit musical that sits atop the food chain of an impressive franchise.

It all began with a 1994 animated musical film, which has since become the highest-grossing traditionally animated film of all time. It inspired two photo-realistically computer-animated films – a 2019 remake of the original and a massive box office success, grossing over $1.6 billion worldwide, and a 2024 prequel/sequel titled “Mufasa: The Lion King.”

This latest state-of-the-art film and its $260 million production budget left audiences in awe. But the live-action stage production – which opened in 1997 and has become Broadway's third longest-running show in history, behind “The Phantom of the Opera” and “Chicago” – generates prolonged, heartfelt and well-earned “awws.” This is due to its wildly imaginative puppetry and staging by director Julie Taymor, gorgeous choreography by Garth Fagan and hummable, award-winning tunes by Elton John and Tim Rice, including “Can You Feel the Love Tonight.”

The story revolves around the lion cub Simba. He is cast out of Pride Rock after his uncle Scar kills his father Mufasa, the King, and takes over his reign. Simba returns as an adult to take back his homeland with the help of his childhood friend Nala, the meerkat Timon and the warthog Pumbaa.

Amid the show’s large-scale pageantry and multicultural storytelling is Sam Linda. All five feet and five inches of him.

The young, Chicago-based actor and Northwestern University alum grew up in the large Jewish community of Houston and was a Bar Mitzvah at Congregation Emanu El, officiated by the same Rabbi who married his parents. He first saw “Disney’s The Lion King” on tour as a child in 2012, which left a lasting impression. He has been with the touring production for a year-and-a-half.

Jewish Rhode Island caught up with Sam between performances in Detroit, Michigan, to discuss his life on tour and in the savanna as Ed, the most manic of Scar’s three henchmen hyenas.

JRI: How did this touring opportunity come about?

Sam Linda: I was performing in “Million Dollar Quartet” at a theater in Wisconsin when my agent let me know that the actor playing Ed was leaving the tour after 17 years. I submitted a tape, received a callback, and flew to New York. Of course, my flight was canceled and rescheduled, I went to the wrong audition location and ran 10 blocks in the summer heat to the correct one. The lack of sleep and my frazzled, sweaty self apparently worked really well for the Ed character.

JRI: What was the rehearsal process like prior to being put into the tour and on what stage was your very first performance?

Sam Linda: I rehearsed for five weeks with the resident director and was put into the show when it was performing in Greenville, South Carolina. It was at the time of a huge hurricane, and the theater lost power during “Circle of Life.” And my tongue fell out of my costume. It was an interesting start.

JRI: This is your first touring experience, but the show had already toured through most cities numerous times since 2002. Your production will be the musical’s fourth time in Providence. What surprised you most about how today’s audiences react to the show?

Sam Linda: The first thing I do in the show, before I put on the Ed costume, is perform as the first leg that goes down the aisle in the Elephant puppet [which is 13 feet long, 12 feet high and 9 feet wide] at the very opening of the show. She is part of the ensemble of animals that gather at Pride Rock to witness the presentation of baby Simba. Once you hear the adults applaud and the children scream with excitement, it’s clear that this production has immediately connected with the audience no matter how many times it’s been seen before.

JRI: Ed does not speak in the show, but he sings.

Sam Linda: He’s in “Chow Down,” sung when Simba and Nala enter the Elephant Graveyard, “The Madness of King Scar, a second-act number where the hyenas complain to Scar about food and water shortages; and as part of the hyena army during “Be Prepared.”

JRI: This is what actor Peter Hargrave, who plays Scar on tour, has to say about you: “Sam is a true triple threat. He’s a fabulous actor and a genuinely wonderful person, foremost, but he also has a beautiful voice and is an amazing tap dancer. It’s all of these things that make his Ed so memorable. Thanks to Sam’s storytelling, he comes out of every show a crowd favorite.”

Sam Linda: Well, Peter’s an incredible and a very giving performer. He’s my parents’ second-favorite when they have come to see the show.

JRI: You also understudy for the actor playing Timon, the wisecracking meerkat who embraces the “Hakuna Matata” mantra alongside his best friend Pumbaa. And you also cover Zazu, the persnickety hornbill and advisor to the King. What are your favorite moments on stage in this production, in any of these roles, so our readers can be looking for them when they attend?

Sam Linda: My favorite moments as Ed are when I am in perfect lockstep with my fellow hyenas, played by Forest VanDyke and Martina Sykes. It doesn’t happen all the time, but to feel their energy and be completely synced up with them is an incredible feeling. And I love all the comic relief that Ed has to offer. When Timon and Pumbaa first enter at the end of Act I, Mufasa has just died, there is an intense moment between Simba and Scar, and the air is filled with devastating energy. Then these two idiots run on and go bowling for buzzards. The audience is allowed a huge exhale. It feels really good to be a part of that.

Bob Abelman is an award-winning theater critic who also writes for The Boston Globe. Connect with him on Facebook.