Riley Brandt

Ian Yuri Gardner shows off just three of the outfits he wears as a swing in The Lion King

The Lion King is slick. Departing from the Disney esthetic and embracing a more artistic puppet-driven interpretation, this musical is entrancing, despite the intact Disney songs straight from the movie. While the onstage magic captivates the audience, backstage, the swings, the people who have to be ready to take on multiple roles with a moment’s notice, apply makeup, change costumes, sing from the sidelines and sometimes simply watch the show from the wings.

Ian Yuri Gardner is energetic and positive, a keener that suits the Disney image of hardworking, happy people. He constantly talks with animated hands, accentuating his animated voice. His athletic body and taut skin make him look far younger than his 40 years. Gardner is a swing — has been for The Lion King for six years — starting in Toronto before performing on Broadway, then in Holland and now with the touring company temporarily calling Calgary home.

As a swing, Gardner needs to know nine full roles, from ensemble parts to principle characters. Although he hasn’t counted them, he has to be prepared to take on 15 different roles at the drop of a hat, including moving props onstage.

If an actor gets sick, their voices give out or they’re on vacation, Gardner hits the stage to fill in. It can be challenging and demanding. “Sometimes I won’t have gone on for a part for weeks and weeks, so definitely it’s a challenge to keep it in,” he says, sitting in the change area backstage, surrounded by hyena heads and wildebeest breeches.

“Basically, I think we usually have one scene to prepare. We’ll get a call and one of the stage managers will say: ‘You’re on. What’s the quickest you can get into the show?’ Usually it’s the next scene, depending on the costume,” says Gardner.

In front of the audience, the calm, well-organized play goes on. Rafiki, the baboon witch doctor, clicks away in a South African dialect and captivates with her celebration of Simba’s birth. Her impeccable vocals are forceful and beautiful. The crowd takes it all in, like a sponge. But backstage, the organized chaos of outfit changes and additions and subtractions among the cast continues.

Gardner says the process is usually well-organized. Real pros co-ordinate “the choreography” in a small area — actors running about like the animals their characters represent. But sometimes, things don’t work out.

“It’s live theatre. Sometimes if something breaks down, or sometimes people call out sick and there’s so many people out, including dressers, or they’re new dressers. Sometimes people just get overwhelmed, there’s so much high emotion,” he says.

“Just, yeah. There’s always moments. It’s a work environment, so…”

For those who have seen the movie or the stage production, it’s hard to forget the stampede of wildebeests who ultimately change the fate of the young lion king, the results of which send him into exile. In the theatre, the depth of the canyon, with the ungulates tiny in the distance, is impressive. As they run down through the chasm, they grow larger, flowing over hills and eventually bobbing and moving front and centre, Simba and Mufasa swerving amidst their legs.

The large wildebeest heads propped up by ensemble members sporting thick hairy-looking pants are Gardner’s least favourite role. Simulating the pumping up and down of the large masks, he says, it makes him feel like his arms are about to collapse, all the while trying to keep time with the awkward choreography.

But it’s the hyena outfits that cook him. “The ensemble one is the same kind of base as the principle hyenas, so it’s like a duvet. It’s padded and there’s so many layers that literally you sweat from the moment you go in and it makes it a little uncomfortable.”

But he loves being onstage as the lovable and laughable Ed, the less-than-bright hyena. Part of the lead pack, Ed allows him to tackle a lead role. “He’s silly and he has this comic timing. You get to run all over and throw yourself on the stage. And it’s kind of fun working with a group of people like that, the Banzai and the Shenzi, they sort of have a little thing going so we’ll joke backstage just before we go onstage.”

It can be complicated, not knowing what’s going to happen next and what role to perform until the last minute. The smooth operation and tight production onstage is a contrast to the preparations that go into making it possible. It gives you a headache to think of the logistics and the last-minute costume changes.

Gardner, for one, loves it. “There are a lot of benefits. You get paid more, it keeps the show fresh consistently. We get time off, even though we have to be at the theatre, we’re not always on and that’s good because quite frequently we’ll go backstage or back to the front of house and watch the show. You get sort of renewed when you see everything again and you’re able to sort of keep it in perspective.”