When The Lion King opens Wednesday night at the Fabulous Fox Theatre, it’ll represent a familiar turn through St. Louis in actor Ben Lipitz’s circle of life.
Lipitz, who plays Pumbaa, joined The Lion King cast in early 2003 and has since logged more than 5,000 performances on Broadway and the show’s national tour as the loyal, lovable warthog. SLM chatted with him about his long tenure as Pumbaa and how he balances work and family life.
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What has it been like to play Pumbaa for 15 years? I never could have imagined having such an incredible career in a single role and in a single production. It’s been surprising because it’s been evolving over the years in terms of retelling that story every single night for the audience.
It has been an incredible privilege. It’s a brilliant piece of theater. It’s the kind of theater that I dreamed of doing when I first went into acting… the kind of theater where you change lives.
Your life has also changed considerably over the years. Your wife, Rosalie, and kids (Matthew, now 12, and Mikaela, 8) surprised you on stage after a Father’s Day performance last year. How has being a father affected your view of the show? My wife is, we like to say, a recovering actress. And we started our family on the road. My family traveled with me for my son’s first three years. Having started and raised our family in the shadow of this piece of theater has been remarkable. My children are not only well-versed in the story, but in the lessons it teaches about how you have to face responsibility, that you can’t do some things by yourself, and that, sometimes, you really have to face your fears. It’s really been incredible to watch them grow and evolve the same way I guess my performance has.
What else has changed about your life and your perspective on the production? One of the really beautiful parts of my tenure with this production has been the inevitable circle of life moments that have happened. Not only have we welcomed both our son and daughter here, but I also lost my father and sister. And those moments of differentiation in life have made the story even more profound to me.
Now that your wife and kids don’t always travel with you, how do you balance work, travel, and family? Thankfully, our producers at Disney Theatrical Group are very generous about getting me little pockets of time here and there to go home. I go home as often as possible, probably every two to three weeks for a couple of days. And when we are close to home, my family travels out and spends time with me on the road.
That’s just what it is: a balance. I’ve become a phenomenal one- and two-day traveler. And, thankfully, with technology—FaceTime and Skype—I’m able to interact with and see my kids every day.
This is the your third run in St. Louis with The Lion King. What are you looking forward to about your time here? I’m thrilled to return to the Fox and St. Louis and thoroughly love the city. I’m really looking forward to renewing some friendships I have there.
As a personal aside, my wife and I had been married a year and a half when we first played the Fox with The Lion King. Our wedding photographer had been horrific, just terrible. So while I was in St. Louis, we hired a local photographer, and my wife flew out with her wedding dress. We redid her flowers, and we shot all of our wedding portraits in and around St. Louis.
We have some shots at Union Station, in the Central West End, just some really beautiful locations the photographer (Robert Westrich) took us to. They were the most stunningly beautiful pictures. It’s like a little part of local history that has been a big part of our lives. So St. Louis has a very special place in our hearts.
The Lion King runs from April 19 through May 7 at the Fox Theatre (527 N. Grand). Tickets are $55 to $199 and available through MetroTix or at the Fox Theatre box office.
