BWW Interviews: On Tour with Tyler Murree, THE LION KING Meerkat

Actor Tyler Murree seems to have a knack for landing roles in costume-heavy shows. Whether Shakespearean or Tolkien-esque, the Toronto-trained thespian likes disappearing into each and every role he takes on. His past shows have included the world premiere production of The Lord of the Rings: The Musical, the North American premiere of Dirty Dancing: The Classic Story on Stage, A Christmas Carol, A Midsummer Night's Dream, As You Like It, and even the all-pantomime production of Aladdin: the Magical Family Musical. In 2005 he originated the role of charming villain Franco DiFortunato in Disney's Twice Charmed: An Original Twist On The Cinderella Story. Currently he stars as the hilarious Timon the Meerkat in the North American touring company of Disney's Tony® Award-winning stage musical THE LION KING, performing for a three-week engagement at the Orange County Performing Arts Center from May 26 through June 13. While on break from the tour in Calgary, Murree spoke with Broadway World's Michael Lawrence Quintos about playing the world's most famous meerkat.

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BWW: Hi Tyler! So, you joined the tour almost a year ago. How has the tour been so far?

Murree: It's been going really well! Though, it feels really interesting living out of a suitcase.

Is THE LION KING your first national tour?

Yeah. The bigger shows that I've done in the past have all been "sit-downs" in Toronto.

Any favorite cities so far on the tour?

Favorite city so far, I would have to say, is Calgary... where I am right now, and we played the show there last August. Also we went up to Anchorage, Alaska and that was really neat to see. Oh, and San Diego was an absolute blast! We spent a month there. I really enjoyed Philadelphia, too.

Now, I can imagine that with the puppetry, the costume, and the make-up involved with playing Timon, it must be quite a demanding role, right?

Well, relatively speaking within the show, it's not as demanding a role as the [others]. I make my first appearance on the show, actually, at the end of Act 1. Now, I'm not necessarily relaxed, because as soon as the show starts, that's my call to go to the make-up chair... and it takes about 30-40 minutes to apply all my make-up every night. So it's not like I'm sitting around in my dressing room, watching TV, and relaxing. But it's certainly not as physically taxing as it is on, say, the dancers who are going full-tilt. They're pretty exhausted by the time I make my first entrance. But with that said, I do have to manipulate a 20-pound puppet—well it's a 15-pound puppet, but when you factor in my costume, wig, and the harness I have to attach to myself to put the puppet on, it's about 20 pounds. So, you know, you combine that with singing and dancing and running around and screaming like a mad man... [Laughs] It can be a taxing role.

Did you know any puppetry before getting cast as Timon?

I have taken some puppetry and mask work at university—at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario—we touched on it a little bit. And I've done a few roles before where puppets were involved. I did a production of A Christmas Carol a few years ago where all the ghosts were puppets! It was actually kind of cool...there were only three actors in the production! I played Scrooge, but we all took turns manipulating the puppets. At one point I had to be both myself [as Scrooge] and the Ghost of Christmas Future. [Laughs]

That sounds neat! As for tour life, now that you've been doing it for almost a year, have you developed any pre-show rituals?

Not really, to tell you the truth, because it's hard to get into a set routine because you're going from theater to theater where the layout is always different. Sometimes, you might be in a little dressing room with just myself and Ben Lipitz, the actor who plays Pumbaa. Then other times, there'll be a bigger dressing room with us, the hyenas and all the standbys. So, it depends on that a lot. But as far as when I eat my meals, I try to do it at least two hours beforehand. Now that I think about it, that's not all that exciting a routine, is it?

[Laughs] So what, then, has been the most exciting aspect of being a part of this particular show?

I'd have to say the show itself! It's just... if you were to look at all the North American national tours going around right now, THE LION KING has been the biggest for a long time, and it will probably continue to be the biggest for another few years. It's just such a good show, and the quality of the show is fantastic! Julie Taymor's design is still the best I can think of. It's worth your price of admission just to see the opening number! And I'm saying that with full awareness that I don't appear on the show until the end of the first act! [Laughs] The first number is just breathtaking because you've got the elephants and the rhinoceroses and giraffes! It's so gorgeous. So just being a part of a show that you can really be proud of every night is, I'd say, a pretty exciting aspect of the job. And also, like I said, I don't much like living out of a suitcase, but it's still pretty cool to see all these different parts of the country I probably, normally, would never see.

Now, are you familiar at all with Orange County, California where this show will be performing for three weeks starting May 26?

The only time I've ever been to Orange County was last either early November/December, when the show was in San Diego. I took the train up to Los Angeles to meet up with my cousin who, like myself, is a big hockey fan. We went to Anaheim to watch the Ducks game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. So that's my only experience in Orange County! A really good friend of mine on the show is one of the stage managers and he's from Anaheim himself. So he said he's going to take me around and I'm really looking forward to seeing more of it.

Great! So how about some funny, interesting or... salacious stories from life on the road?

Oh, salacious! Well, you better take your notepad out, I'll tell you all the gossip! [Laughs] Oh, gosh, you know every time someone asks me this, I feel like I'm put on the spot to reveal everything or something... But, let's see... funny? There have been a few times when... well, if you've seen the puppet, it's like this four-foot Timon right in front of me. I have to put this harness on so that they can attach him to my feet. The point of this is, if I fall down, like, on my back at all, I can't move. I'm pretty much like a turtle. [Laughs]

This one night, there's this part where I'm supposed to be coming over a waterfall with a crocodile attacking me. I'm supposed to jump over a set piece and then run downstage. But something happened. I don't know how I got distracted—and this was just a month ago—but as I was running downstage, I tripped over the puppet's feet and just... rolled. And, you know, people always say, "oh, the audience never notices when you make a mistake. They think it's part of the show!" Well... I think by the audible "oooohhh" I got, I think, yeah, they knew. And then, when the gentleman who plays Simba [André Jackson] ran over to me and picked me right back up, they realized something was wrong. By then, I think, they pretty much knew 100% that there was a problem. Also, there was an understudy on that night for Pumbaa and he forgot his lines. He was just staring at me, dumbfounded, trying to make sure I was okay because, from their point of view, it looked like I was very, very hurt! But once I was propped up, I went on as if nothing had happened because I was just so embarrassed [Laughs]. It made for a very interesting moment on stage, that's for sure.

True. With live theater you just never know what will happen!

And then there's also the backstage antics, but I think that's kind of sacred so... [Laughs]

[Laughs] Alright, I'll leave that alone, then. So, let's talk a little bit about your background. Growing up, have you always known that being an actor was what you wanted to do?

Yeah, well, I went through those normal phases that kids go through, you know? I went through a dinosaur phase, then I wanted to be a policeman, a fireman, and a marine biologist. But then I discovered that I really liked performing. I started doing impressions when I was really young. I spent two years as a dog, essentially [Laughs]. So, I liked getting the attention, that's for sure—I'm the youngest of four. And so in high school, I joined the choir and we put on a couple of plays and, I thought, yeah, that's something I would like to do. Then when it came time to apply for colleges and universities, I was going to apply for English and teaching... and it was my parents who said, "no, no. No back up plans. No safety nets. This is what you want to do." In their opinion I was pretty good, but you can never tell with parents because they're so biased!

True! So who were some of your musical influences growing up?

I listened to a lot of showtunes—which my girlfriend's really rolling her eyes at me if she could hear me say that [Laughs]. I think what I first fell in love with was The Phantom of the Opera, and I know a lot of professional actors will roll their eyes at me right now, but I still kind of love that music. And that was right around the same time Les Misérables came out. Then I used to watch the old movie musicals with my mom. Fred Astaire. Gene Kelly. Bing Crosby. Danny Kaye. I thought they were just the coolest cats! I think they were really more my biggest influences. If you were to ask me now, "what do I listen to?" I can barely tell you what's on my iTunes or on my iPod. I just took a bunch of music from my best friend who's a musician, so I just listen to whatever... I don't really pay attention to who it is. But, that being said, you know actually, the one item I do listen to is [by] my understudy who just released an album this past year. His name is Jered Tanner, and his album is called Jered Tanner for President and it's on iTunes! It's phenomenal! It's by far my favorite album of 2009.

Cool, what kind of music is it?

It's a little bit of rock, a little bit of folk into it, and easy listening, but with a really great beat. I wouldn't know how to describe it essentially, but I would just suggest people listen to it. It's kind of like Jack Johnson meets James Blunt—but with a more manly voice. [Laughs] Really, really great album.

Awesome. So, I read in your bio that you were a cast member of The Lord of the Rings musical. Can you talk a little bit about that?

Sure! The designer for The Lord of the Rings will probably kill me for saying this, but there are a lot of similarities between the two shows. I was in the ensemble as well as an understudy. Both The Lord of the Rings and THE LION KING are incredibly demanding shows on the ensemble. The more so for Rings, and the set was a major part of it. It had three revolves that moved independently of each other, as well as 17 different pieces of the floor that were... essentially made up of 17 different elevators that also moved independently. The one major battle scene in the middle of the show—the Battle of Helm's Deep, if you're familiar with the story—is a ten-minute musical battle sequence! Ten members of the female chorus are singing this war chant, while you have several members of the male chorus beating the drums accompanying the orchestra that's already going full tilt. It was almost kind of like the Cry of the Valkyries. And then you had the 30 members of the male ensemble dressed as either Orcs or the good guys, doing this giant battle sequence... while the three revolves and the 17 lifts were moving in continuous motion!

Do you think the complexity of the production contributed to why the show never made it to Broadway?

The show was very expensive. And I hope I don't get into trouble for saying this, but I don't see why I could... there's always a problem with marketing your budget. It's kind of like the Waterworld thing: "Oh! It's the most expensive movie in the world, so it's gotta be good!" So, you know, if people are having to spend that much on their ticket, and they know that it cost them $30 Million to put on this play, you've already raised expectations so high, that it's almost hard... almost impossible to impress [the audience]. And so I really wish that the budget wasn't so much a part of the publicity. That said, the story itself is just so... SO BIG that to try to fit it all in one night of theater, I think, was just insurmountable task.

You mean it was all three books in one single show?

Yeah, it was ONE show. Five hours long. The ultimate goal was to get it down to three-and-a-half... we got it down to around three hours and 45 minutes on one night, when we didn't have to stop for any technical glitches. For a while there, during our month of previews, we went down from five hours to 3:45. Let me tell you, it's just visually stunning... a gorgeous show! We had a Tony-winning actor [Brent Carver] playing Gandalf, a Tony-winning director from London, Matthew Warchus... Everybody did their best in that group of 55 cast members and 20 orchestra members and everyone backstage... the designers, the crew... Everybody just gave that show their all. So it really disappointed us when the media labeled it a "flop." I mean, it played six months in Toronto and a year-and-a-half in London on the West End. That's hardly the numbers a flop makes. And, I think everyone expected it to go to Broadway, it was just a beast... it got too big. I personally think it could have worked had they separated it into two nights. They've certainly whittled down enough of the books, which they had to do anyway. They did that to the [Peter Jackson] movies, too. If you sat and watched the "extended" versions of all three movies, that's twelve-and-a-half hours. We were able to tell a complete story in three hours and 45 minutes. It was an amazing experience and an incredible year of my life, when all is said and done when you include the rehearsals and everything. It was a lot of blood, sweat and tears and a project I'm very, very proud of.

Compared with THE LION KING, did you have a longer rehearsal period with The Lord of the Rings musical?

Oh, yes. With THE LION KING, this particular tour just celebrated its eighth anniversary. So, I was a replacement. There was a gentleman who played Timon for five years and then another guy who played it for two years and then I came in after that. So I only had five weeks to learn the lines and the music, and to start learning the puppetry. That doesn't sound like a good amount of time, but for The Lord of the Rings, my first day of rehearsal was on September 24... and the first preview was February 4. There were a few guys who were doing a lot of the stilt work and a few other stunts—they started rehearsing a month prior to me. That was probably the longest rehearsal process I've ever had!

Now, with other musicals... is there a role on your wish list you're dying to play someday?

Yeah. I think the two biggest roles that I covet right now in musicals would be Bobby in Company and Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors.

And what about straight plays?

WIth straight plays my heart will always, always go back to Shakespeare. See, I'm 5' 6"... actually, I'm not even quite 5' 6"... So I don't foresee playing Hamlet anytime soon. I played Richard III in college so I would love to get another crack at that, or Richard II... the histories are probably my favorite plays.

Cool. Now we've come to my favorite part of all my interviews... I'd like to throw you a few rapid-fire questions, if I may. Just tell me the first thing that comes to mind.

Okay... what's your favorite musical of all time?

I would have to say for sentimental reasons... Phantom. I'm going to get skewered for that but... [Laughs]

What song do you like belting out loud when you're in the shower or all alone in your car?

Ooh, what's a good one... Oh, "Runaround" by Blues Traveler!

What's your least favorite part of your Timon costume?

The make-up. Now, my make-up artist is a wonderful lady and I enjoy spending time with her, but it takes 40 minutes to apply green make-up on my face and it takes 25 minutes to get it off...and I mean really get it off. She was saying to me "just wait, even once you're finished with the role, you'll still see green make-up on your pillowcases." [Laughs]

Who's the person you admire the most, living or dead?

Ooh. [Pauses] That's a tie between my mother and father.

What scares you the most?

Sharks!

What's your one guilty pleasure?

One?! [Laughs] Okay, for my one guilty pleasure, I'd have to say bacon. I love bacon!

Who doesn't? You can wrap it on anything! It's awesome!

Now did I really just say bacon is my one guilty pleasure? I even know vegetarians who are, like, "bacon? Sure I'll have that!" [Laughs]

What or who irritates you the most?

Gary Bettman, commissioner of the NHL.

What instantly puts a smile on your face?

My niece.

If you weren't a performer, what other career do you see yourself doing?

For the longest time, I've always thought to myself that I would be a good Prime Minister of Canada. But I think if I were going to be successful in something else, I would love to be a high school drama teacher.

And, finally, what can Orange County audiences expect from this tour cycle of THE LION KING?

They should expect to see a show with an amazing orchestra, a fantastic cast, and smooth transitions in terms of the technical aspects which are fantastic, because we've got such an amazing crew taking care of this show. I think audiences—if they've never seen this show and are only familiar with the film—are going to see the story they expect with a design that's going to blow them away. And if they have seen the stage show before, they're going to see, out of the several productions in the world, one of the best.

Top Photo: Tyler Murree as Timon in Disney's THE LION KING by Joan Marcus. ©Disney.
Bottom Photo: Tyler Murree by Nicholas Seguin.

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Tickets to see DISNEY'S THE LION KING start at $23.25 and are available online at OCPAC.org, at the Center’s Box Office at 600 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa or by calling 714.556.2787. For inquiries about group ticket discounts for 15 or more, call the Group Services office at 714.755.0236. The TTY number is 714.556.2746. The 2 p.m. performance on Saturday, June 12 will be sign-language interpreted.

Performances continue through June 13 and are on Tuesdays – Fridays at 7:30 p.m.; Saturdays at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. There will be an additional matinee performance on Thursday, May 27 at 2 p.m.

For more information, visit OCPAC.org. For more information on Tyler Murree, visit his website at www.TylerMurree.com.

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