More than 1,000 times, Zama Magudulela has opened “The Lion King” by belting out a familiar chant:
"Nants ingonyama bagithi Baba!”
She’ll do it again this week in Norfolk when “The Lion King” begins an 18-day run at Chrysler Hall on Thursday.
“The reaction is always amazing,” said Magudulela, who plays Rafiki and sings “Circle of Life” in Zulu to announce, “Here comes a lion, my people!”
“Obviously, every country has their own certain cultural behavior when they hear the song, but most of the time, there’s clapping. There’s screaming. And tears without a doubt. That’s what keeps me going.”
Magudulela was born in South Africa, a requirement for playing the role of the shamanistic mentor to Simba. Composer Lebo M. wanted the Broadway musical — the highest-grossing in box-office history — to feature South African performers to ensure authenticity in the music and language.
Since the premiere of “The Lion King” in 1997, nearly 250 South Africans have been employed in one or more of the global productions.
Magudulela didn’t dream of being on stage as a kid. It never occurred to her. She earned a degree in marketing management and got a job in the field. When she was tipped off about an audition for the stage production of “The Zulu Show,” she went for it on a whim — and got it.
“I left a one-year contract job to do a three-week production,” she said. “How absurd is that?
Singing was always her passion. When Magudulela was 6, her teachers pushed her to join a gospel choir after hearing her sing to herself.
At home, she was admittedly annoyingly vocal, prompting her mother to scold, “Shut up!” That was the typical response when Magudulela broke into an energetic rendition of Whitney Houston’s “How Will I Know.”
She didn’t speak English fluently. But she knew those lyrics. And sang them again and again.
“I would scream in the yard,” she said. “I was so loud; I didn’t care.”
When Magudulela got the chance to audition for “The Lion King” in 2001, she wasn’t familiar with the story. She rented the movie, which depicts Rafiki as an animated Old World monkey.
YouTube wasn’t as accessible as it is today, so she tried out with a song that didn’t reveal the range in her voice. She didn’t get the part. When she auditioned again, she relied on an apartheid anthem to showcase her rich sound. She got the callback and joined the ensemble in Australia in 2003.
Four years later, in France, she played the role of Rafiki for the first time. In addition to this North American tour, she has starred as Rafiki in Paris, Madrid, São Paulo and Toronto.
In the stage show, Rafiki is a female baboon, a contrast to the male, animated mandrill in the film. Part of the challenge has been learning French, Spanish, Portuguese and German. Magudulela welcomes the learning curve and immerses herself in a country’s culture to help.
“The only thing that doesn’t change in those countries is the South African part,” she said. “The South African languages don’t change because they are the source and the heavy depth of the show.”
She identifies with Rafiki, adding, “I see so much of Zama in the Rafiki character.”
The second youngest in a family of five siblings, Magudulela regards herself as the strong one. She watched her father die and nurtured everyone else through the loss. She was in Spain performing when she lost her mother and assumed that comforting role again.
“I’m the glue among my siblings,” she said.
Magudulela never tires of being on stage, a process that requires an hour in the makeup chair for face painting. She’s delighted to be in Virginia for the return of “The Lion King,” which was last in Norfolk in 2018.
“For me, I don’t call this my career,” she said. “I just say it’s my hobby. I get paid doing my hobby.”
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