Gabrielle Russon
Before every show, Mufasa played by Darnell Abraham and 12-year-old Julian Villela, the young Simba, do their secret handshake.
It’s a moment to check in with each other and have some fun before the two Lion King stars who share an Orlando connection perform in what’s become one of most successful Broadway shows of all-time.
Julian, an Orlando sixth grader, has been traveling the country since October 2023 when he won the role as the cute and curious lion cub in the Broadway touring production.
Fast forward to a decade ago.
Abraham, who plays Simba’s wise father, was a Disney World performer.
Several times a day, he performed at Animal Kingdom’s Festival of the Lion King, a shorter, high-energy show inspired by the musical.
It feels like a full circle moment for Abraham, 39, to be cast in the Broadway musical and heading back to Orlando for The Lion King’s four-week run.
The Lion King will play April 23 – May 18 at downtown Orlando’s Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts.
“I’m feeling great. I’m so excited, and it’s going be so fun because all the people that I trained with and worked with and all my friends and family are going to come out and hopefully see the show,” said Julian, who attended First Academy in Orlando and starred at the Orlando Family Stage in elementary school.
What impresses Abraham about his younger co-star is his professionalism.
Not even a costume mishap in the middle of the show could mess up Julian’s rhythm.
Julian once felt the pins falling out of his wig in the scene where Simba disobeys his father and visits the elephant graveyard. As Simba was chased by the hyena, Julian felt the pins falling out of his wig. He could only keep it on for so long.
“I felt it slipping back … I just had to hold it in my hand,” Julian recalled. “And one of the stage managers … I saw him out of the corner of my eye, he was saying, ‘Throw the wig!’ … So I just threw it off stage.”
Welcome to live theater.
“There could be one million and one distractions on stage or even in the audience,” Abraham said. “But the fact that Julian is able to maintain focus and dedication and commitment to the scene just really speaks to the level of professionalism that this guy is bringing to the stage, show after show after show.”
The Lion King’s deep themes about the natural world, family and following your destiny bring people back to their childhood from when the movie first came out, said Abraham, who can hear the audience’s sniffles from the stage.
“There’s a timelessness and a timeliness to this show that continues to prove itself over and over,” he said.
It’s a story Abraham loves so much, he hopes to sneak back to Animal Kingdom to his old stomping grounds to see the Festival of the Lion King when he isn’t on stage in The Lion King himself.
