Tiffany Boone says only through “therapy and a lot of coaching” was she able to get over her intense fear of singing, for which – like “Mufasa: The Lion King” co-star Aaron Pierre – she had precious little background.
“Intimidating – just because I’m afraid of singing in front of people. I had phobia, I no longer [do],” Boone, who stars as Sarabi in the film, told TheWrap. “When I started auditioning, I didn’t even know I’d have to sing. Like, ‘Oh, one of those roles where you don’t have to sing,’ and then last minute [they] were like, ‘Alright, now sing something.’ And I was like, ‘Excuse me?’ So I had a lot of fear around it, but through some therapy and a lot of coaching and the incredible team.”
Boone continued: “Lin-Manuel Miranda’s team really supported me. I was able to step into and have some fun, and it’s still a lot of pressure for sure, but I think as long as you’re focusing on serving the work and serving the music and you take, we have to get out of our head about the legacy stuff. Right now, we can sit in the legacy stuff, but in the moment, we’re just trying to serve the work. And I think that’s what we wound up doing and having fun.”
Cosigning Boone’s remarks, Pierre also thanked Miranda’s crew and also shared his hopes that none of the behind-the-scenes footage of them singing airs at any point.
“I had a lot of nerves. I’d never really sang outside of the context of, in my home. I was nervous, and as Tiffany said, big thank you and big shout out to Lin-Manuel Miranda and his team because without them, I wouldn’t have been able to achieve honoring and serving the beautiful, beautiful music that he had written,” Pierre said. “I’m just really hoping no BTS footage comes out, because I’m using all the singing techniques to reach those high notes and it looks embarrassing.”
Even though Pierre and Boone’s nerves were bad, their costar Kelvin Harrison Jr. compared them to two iconic singers.
“This is the Jill Scott and Maxwell of the Pride Lands,” Harrison said.
Pierre sings three songs on the original soundtrack for “Mufasa,” which was written and coproduced by Miranda, including “I Always Wanted a Brother,” “We Go Together” and “Tell Me It’s You.” Boone also sings on “We Got Together” and “Tell Me It’s You.”
