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<\/p>\nShe\u2019s from Floral City, a one-stoplight town about an hour north of Tampa, but Kissy Simmons\u2019 parents named her after a different Central Florida burg: Her full first name is Kissimmee.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a Native American word for river,\u201d Simmons explains. \u201cMy mom thought it was a beautiful name. And that \u2018Kissy\u2019 would be my stage name. So I guess she just manifested something.\u201d<\/p>\n
That she did. Kissy, who\u2019s part of the ensemble cast of the new freeFall Theatre musical, Bash of the Titans, has an illustrious stage history as a singer\/actress\/dancer.<\/p>\n
For nine years, she played Nala, the young lioness, in Disney\u2019s groundbreaking musical The Lion King. She starred in the show\u2019s first American tour, then on Broadway, and then in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n
On TV, she had guest roles on 30 Rock, Smash, The Detour and Six Degrees.<\/p>\n
Simmons was a star athlete before she even thought of a show business career.<\/p>\n
As a senior at Citrus High School, she won the Florida state high jump championship in 1992; she entered the University of South Florida on a track scholarship.<\/p>\n
She\u2019d played piano and organ and sang at Grace Temple Church of the Living God in Floral City, and made up little skits in Sunday School. But athletics took over.<\/p>\n
In high school, \u201cMy drama teacher was the one that pretty much told me I was going to be in school musicals,\u201d Simmons laughs. \u201cShe got wind that I played the piano, and I could sing. She knew I was a student athlete, and she said \u2018You should audition for our show choir.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
One show led to another, and another. \u201cNow, she didn\u2019t have much resistance, because I really always wanted to perform.\u201d<\/p>\n
Play practice came later in the afternoon, after track practice. The drama teacher and the track coach worked it all out.<\/p>\n
During her senior year at USF, at the suggestion of a friend, she auditioned for Tampa\u2019s Center for the Performing Arts\u2019 in-house theater company. \u201cAnd what happened was, I was getting ready to graduate. And my debut, opening night of the show, was the same night of my graduation.\u201d<\/p>\n
She earned her BA in speech communications, but she had the diploma mailed to Floral City. \u201cOnce I did my first show,\u201d she says, \u201cI was like \u2018This is what I want to be when I grow up.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
For four years, Simmons performed consistently at the CPA, which was eventually re-named for David A. Straz, and at other theaters in the area. She worked as a model, for Beall\u2019s Department Store and the Home Shopping Network, and waited for opportunity to knock.<\/p>\n
She learned that Disney, which was getting its feet into the Broadway business, was hosting open audition calls at New York\u2019s Apollo Theatre, a place she\u2019d never been and knew less than nothing about. Simmons and her husband (of two years) made the trip.<\/p>\n
She auditioned for a production of the Elton John-Tim Rice musical Aida, and got a callback. For this second sojourn, Disney paid for everything.<\/p>\n
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In \u201cThe Lion King\u201d on Broadway. Publicity photo.<\/p>\n
Simmons tackled her second audition for Aida. She and her husband were on the way to the elevator when a Disney rep chased them down. Please stay in town, she said. Whatever you need, we\u2019ll take care of it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen, Simmons remembers, \u201cshe said \u2018Have you heard of The Lion King?<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I was like, \u2018You mean the cartoon? I love that movie!\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cShe says \u2018It\u2019s a musical. It\u2019s on Broadway. We want to start seeing you for the first national tour.\u201d<\/p>\n
Just like that. Workshops began the next day with director and choreographer Julie Taymor. Simmons was cast as Nala, young Simba\u2019s cubhood playmate and eventual wife.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt had already been on Broadway for five years,\u201d Simmons explained. \u201cI originated the role on the tour, and after a year and a half went by, they transferred me to the Broadway company and then I did it for six years.\u201d She next christened the Las Vegas Lion King company, at Mandalay Bay.<\/p>\n
Nine years in such a big budget production, she says, was \u201clife-changing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her daughter was born after the Vegas run. That was especially life-changing.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou never really leave Disney,\u201d Simmons, who resides in New York, observes. \u201cFortunately, I\u2019ve been blessed to continue to work for Disney, doing special events concerts. I do the Festival of the Arts at Epcot. Disney Cruise Lines. I\u2019ve been to Japan four times, singing Disney songs with an orchestra.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bash of the Titans is a loose satire of the 1981 fantasy film Clash of the Titans, about mischievous \u2013 and vengeful \u2013 Greek Gods. All set to 1980s pop songs with re-worked lyrics.<\/p>\n
The theater\u2019s co-founder and artistic director Eric Davis, one of the writers of Bash (and its director), is an old friend from her Straz Center days. \u201cI\u2019ve always known that he would do something special in this area, because he\u2019s brilliant,\u201d Simmons says. \u201cVery artistic. Very aware of theater; I learn so much just listening to him talk. And listening to his ideas.\u201d<\/p>\n
The musical runs through Aug. 2. Simmons will do a one-woman cabaret at freeFall July 9 (find tickets here<\/a>). \u201cSchedules don\u2019t always line up for me to come,\u201d she explains. \u201cBut when they do, the answer\u2019s always yes. Because I love Eric.\u201d<\/p>\n
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