Girl wins a role of a lifetime
PROFILE: Anaheim's Lisa Tucker portrays Young Nala in 'The Lion King.'
October
15, 2000
By LAURA BLEIBERG
The Orange County Register
It was 10 p.m. and the phone was ringing in the Tuckers' Anaheim home.
Tricia Tomey, casting associate for the Tony-winning Disney musical
"The Lion King," asked to speak with Lisa Tucker, 11.
This
was it. After five months, 12 auditions and callbacks, countless
renditions of "I Just Can't Wait to Be King," after reading
lines, dancing steps, smiling big and just standing around - this was
the moment Lisa had been waiting for. She picked up the phone.
"Are
you ready to do 'The Lion King?'" Tomey asked her.
And just
like that, Lisa Tucker, seventh-grader, became Lisa Tucker, Young Nala.
She
is one of the four child stars in the hit Broadway musical, which
opens Thursday in Los Angeles and is the most highly anticipated
theatrical event in Southern California this season. Tucker won the
part over thousands of others from throughout Southern California.
(She alternates in the role with a girl listed in the program as
Jazmn.)Tucker will portray Young Nala on opening night."I was
like, 'Oh, my goodness.' I just bounced all around. I was so excited.
I couldn't sleep," Tucker said backstage at the Pantages Theater.
And
whoosshh ... that's the sound of life being turned topsy-turvy at the
Tucker household. Rehearsals began Aug. 8, six days a week, and
preview performances started Sept. 29. Lisa performs four times a week
(there are eight performances most weeks), but she has to be at the
theater for every show, in case an emergency requires her to step into
the role.
There are other adjustments. No more regular school. She
is tutored in a tiny dressing room at the theater with the three other
children.
"I am excited, but I miss my brothers and I don't
really get to be home a lot anymore and I miss my puppy," Lisa
said, only after prompting, because she's not one to complain.
"And now I don't really get to play with my friends as much and I
don't get to go to school really."
Either her mother, Eleanor,
a customer service supervisor with Pacific Life, or her father Stan,
an attorney, drive their daughter to Los Angeles every day. On
performance nights, Lisa and her mother return home at midnight. Lisa
sleeps until 11 a.m. Eleanor has cut back her workday by two hours,
but she still starts at her normal time - 6 a.m. She takes naps on an
exercise mat in Lisa's dressing room.
"Tricia (the casting
associate) told me, 'Eleanor, your life will belong to Disney for a
while'" she said. "But because it was something that Lisa
loved so much I thought, if she gets it, we will make that sacrifice
and do it for her. Because it's something she loves. This is like a
dream come true for her."
What Lisa loves is singing. Lisa
would rather sing than do just about anything else. She started
singing as soon as she could talk, her mother said. No only did she
love it, and do it all the time, she was good. Really good. At her
father's urging, Lisa started auditioning for local children's theater
productions about one year ago, and began singing lessons two years
ago. She was selected to sing the national anthem at Edison Field in
September 1999 at an Angels game her parochial school classmates
attended.
"She has a dynamite voice," said Claudia Hall,
co-producer of Orange County Children's Theatre, where Lisa has
appeared in several productions. "She just sang so well. She was
really a good singer, probably the best we had ever heard at her
age."
It was Hall who recommended Lisa for the role of Young
Nala, the spitfire lioness with attitude. Disney officials had called
Hall to say they were looking for kids ages 10-12 for the roles of
Young Nala and Young Simba. Hall said she doesn't usually recommend
children for high-profile roles, but after consulting with the
Tuckers, gave them Lisa's name and one other child's.
"I just
absolutely loved her. She was easygoing and took direction very
well," Hall added. "She's a sweet kid."
And so she
is. She is bubbly, but polite, and smiles a lot, revealing the two
gaps where her baby cuspid teeth fell out last week. Her favorite
singer is Whitney Houston. Enchiladas are her favorite food.
Her
dressing room, which she shares with Jazmn, is decorated with flowers,
a purple beanbag chair, a Christopher Robin pillow, and a box in which
she keeps the telegrams she got from appreciative fans of her
performances at Orange County Children's Theater.
She does get
nervous - her knees shake - and she prays before going onstage. But it
is becoming more and more natural for her to belt out a song in front
of 2,700 people.
"(When I'm onstage) I'm just saying my lines
over and over in my head and remembering the dances. I just do my
best," Lisa said. "I love just being out there on stage and
entertaining people."
She has a contract through March 25 (the
musical is scheduled to run through June 30). It could be renewed as
long as she still fits the part; that is, as long as she hasn't grown
too big, or her voice hasn't changed. The rigors of the life have not
phased her. She has been bitten by the theater bug.
"I want to
be an entertainer," she said. "I want to be on TV and the
movies and musicals."
Her parents are watching her success with
great happiness and some wariness. Said Stan Tucker: "You hear
all the horror stories (about child actors). Well, I think the most
important thing is that you stay on top of things and watch as it
goes. One of the things that I keep reminding my wife and I have to
remind myself, too, is we have to treat her like we treat the other
kids." (The couple have two boys, Stanley, 17, and Billy, 15.)
Added
Stan: "I want her to really enjoy it. There are no guarantees
that anything like this will ever come along again."
One of
Lisa's favorite parts comes at the beginning of the show, the
celebrated procession of the animals up the aisles to the stage during
the song "Circle of Life."
Lisa wears a baby elephant
costume and loves to watch the expressions of wonderment on the faces
of the audience, particularly the children.
"I like looking at
all the people who are staring at me," she said. "I have
handles (on the costume) and I can move the ears. Whenever I see a
little kid, I just wave my ears at them."
