NEW YORK—Just as how the flutter of a butterfly’s wings could eventually lead to a hurricane, Avon and Bernita Bellamy’s presence at “The Lion King” musical in 1998 may have forged the destiny of their unborn son.
“My wife wanted to see the show. I was adamantly against it because I had seen the cartoon and thought, what are they going to do on Broadway?” Bellamy said. From the moment the curtain lifted, he realized he was wrong.
The Bellamys were so profoundly impacted by the rich African culture embedded in the show that Bernita played “The Lion King songs” to her belly in 1999 when she was pregnant with her first born, Judah Bellamy—who now plays Simba on Broadway.
Judah has been “genetically tampered with. Who knows how affinity is created? It’s all his mom’s fault,” his father joked.
When Judah was 6, he announced he would play Simba one day on Broadway. With Judah’s father being a writer in Baltimore, and his mother a day care provider, the dream was brushed off as a childish fantasy.
“None of us can sing. It is just not a part of our make up. I'd probably be less surprised if they told me he could move objects with his mind,” his father said.
But not only could Judah sing, he also memorized the entire “The Lion King” script by age 5. He then moved on to memorizing the Danish and German versions.
His father could no longer ignore Judah’s wish when he turned 9, and began taking him to “Lion King” auditions.
Without ever taking a single singing or acting lesson, Judah left for his trip to New York. As a 4‘3’' 9-year-old, he walked into the large auditioning room, getting lost among 50 Simba hopefuls who were at least 3 inches taller than him.
To the judges’ surprise, the most regal, resounding voice bustled from the little body. But it was more than the voice that captured the directors’ attention; it was Judah’s passion for “ The Lion King” scenes, his striking familiarity and natural ease with the script, and his compelling bearing as Simba.
There was one small problem. He was too short for the role. Over the next two years, Judah was invited to audition five times. Although he was rejected each time, Judah held firmly to his dream.
“I’m going back to get it, at no time did I think I wasn’t going to get it,” he said. He got the auspicious phone call at age 11.
