Vickery Shows His Scar From ‘Lion King’

One of the funniest numbers in recent editions of “Forbidden Broadway” has been “Can You Feel the Pain Tonight?,” a takeoff on “Can You Feel the Love Tonight?” from “The Lion King.” The number voices the laments of “Lion King” cast members who must schlep enormous masks and costumes around the stage every night.

For John Vickery, that song isn’t just a joke.

Vickery was the original Scar in the Broadway production, then took a two-year hiatus from the role before returning to it a year ago in L.A., where he lives. However, he has been out of the cast since July 8, after an X-ray found that “my spine was way out of alignment,” he said.

He had back surgery on July 17 and is now recovering well, he said. He has been walking a lot in recent weeks, and--starting this week--he plans to resume serious training for his return to the role, which he hopes will take place in early December.

“No show has ever done this to me before. I have to go back and take my revenge,” he joked, sounding a bit like the villainous Scar.

Vickery’s costume weighs 36 pounds, which “may not sound like that much, but it’s not ergonomically distributed around the body, and I carry it around for three hours at each performance.”

He doesn’t blame anyone associated with the show, and he says that the producer, Disney, has been very cooperative in obtaining payment for his procedures through workers’ compen-sation.

Vickery was initially replaced by his understudy, but beginning Aug. 30, Granville Van Dusen took over the role.

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RAYMOND RESURGENCE: As of Monday, a new player may well enter the large theater scene. That’s the day escrow is expected to close on the sale of the Raymond Theatre in Pasadena, which the new owners hope to restore as part of a planned Pasadena Performing Arts Center.

The Raymond is a 1921 hall, just north of Colorado Boulevard on Raymond Avenue, that has been dark since 1992. Harvey Knell and Pierce O’Donnell are buying it and an adjacent parking lot for $3.5 million.

Although the Raymond currently seats slightly more than 2,000, O’Donnell said that his team’s plan is to reduce the capacity to between 1,700 and 1,900, installing wider seats for greater audience comfort.

He hopes to lure some Broadway tours to the Raymond, despite the presence a few blocks away of the 3,000-seat Pasadena Civic Auditorium, which has its own Broadway tour series.

“Some shows have trouble filling the Civic,” O’Donnell said. To accommodate such shows, parts of the adjacent lot might be used to construct more extensive backstage facilities, he said.

Pasadena Civic general manager Richard Barr said that the Raymond “definitely would provide competition in a fragmented and saturated market.” However, such big shows as “Les Miserables”--which Pasadena Civic will host Oct. 9-14--are much likelier to play a bigger hall, he said, not only because they can make more money if the house is filled but also because they might not fit the Raymond stage.

O’Donnell said that his group at the Raymond might also accommodate special events by area theater companies, such as Pasadena Playhouse, A Noise Within or companies that normally use 99-seat theaters. And he hopes to book Pasadena Pops concerts, dance and other nontheatrical productions--”a potpourri of programming,” O’Donnell said.

Initial plans for the Raymond included a 350-seat theater that would be part of the new building on the adjacent lot, but O’Donnell last week said that space limitations may preclude such a venue. However, he’s still confident that at least a 99-seat theater could be part of the building, which will be designed to house a performing arts academy.

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OVATIONS NEWS: Theatre LA has postponed the announcement of the annual Ovation Awards nominations from Monday to Oct. 8.

President Lee Wochner said the delay “will give us additional time to verify the internal subtotals before we ask the computer to spit out the nominees.”

The time was needed because “everyone associated with this lost a week” due to the distractions of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, Wochner said.

Theatergoers can guess the probable nominees in the top four categories at https://www.theatrela.org. The best guesser will win two VIP tickets to the Ovation ceremony on Nov. 12.