Center Stage

MICHAEL HOLLICK OF Mountain Lakes knows how to make a scene. As a long-time professional Broadway actor embedded with “The Lion King” franchise, he’s been on stage since kindergarten, a credit he gives to his teacher. Hollick never had to give up his day job because he never had one. His day begins in the late afternoon and peaks in the evening for the performances at the Minskoff Theater in Times Square.

It is a lifestyle he relishes not only for living the dream but also pairing well with parenthood. He and his wife Angela have two children, Max, 15, and Eva 12, both in the school district. So, how did this family man and new-ish Laker make his way to the esteemed stage of Broadway, as well as the borough?

ROOTS

Raised in Maryland and Delaware, Hollick peels back the layers to kindergarten and a classroom circus of sorts. “I was a sensitive and shy kid,” he says. “My teacher, Mrs. Cook, would always pick the shyest kid to be the ringmaster.”

That just so happened to be him. “I came out of my shell, and by elementary school I was doing choir, plays and children’s theater.”

High school theater was the next natural progression, where he received further encouragement by his theater teacher, Dave Patch. In his junior year, he auditioned for Carnegie Mellon University’s summer pre-college theater program. He was accepted and entered his senior year in high school, knowing he had secured his first-choice school.

“It was the perfect place for me,” he says.

He was in the big time in what he described as a “rigorous and competitive” program that would cut students during the first couple of years. “There were 40 kids to start and by junior year, half were gone. It was ruthless,” he says.

His daily college grind involved a rigorous 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. schedule with only two allotted breaks. Then there was rehearsal or shows, from 7 to 10 p.m.

“And then you had to do homework, and by that time it was after 11 p.m.,” he says.

Upon completion of the four-year program, he graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in musical theater.

He landed an agent and began to test drive different roles, even in television. His CV includes stints on “Guiding Light,” “Sex and the City,” and the “Law and Order” franchises. In taking advantage of “The Lion King” tour in Honolulu, he also secured a spot on “Hawaii Five-O.”

A LOVE FOR THE STAGES

The stage, however, was his one true home, but not before test driving an aerial opportunity early in his career. As part of De La Guarda, a popular off-Broadway experience involving audience participation, he performed as an aerialist.

“It was a very formative experience,” he says. “It was New York City rave party meets theatrical poetic narrative movement.”

The audience interaction component introduced Hollick to his wife and current councilwoman Angela Tsai. He can say with confidence that he swept her off her feet in flight. “I flew her,” he says. “There was some flirtation involved.”

“The Lion King” came to light in 2010, which just so happened to coincide with the birth

of his first child, Max. The couple moved from Brooklyn to Las Vegas when Angela was pregnant, and Hollick took the stage as the understudy of Scar.

The baby, however, had an act of his own planned and decided to make his debut two weeks early and almost smack in the middle of the show.

“The doctor said that she [Angela] would be in labor for a long time,” Hollick says. True to theater fashion, the show must go on, and it did, along with Hollick, who managed to hold it together for the performance.

“I showed up to the hospital in full makeup,” he says. “It was crazy. The Las Vegas paper even did a story on it.”

As for Angela? A Jersey girl with entertainment roots of her own, her accolades span both the sports broadcasting and Broadway realms. She served as the general manager for the producers of “Moulin Rouge” and “The Outsiders,” as well as chief of staff for Zuckerberg Media, founded by one of Mark Zuckerberg’s sisters.

It was her ties to Jersey that paved the way to their current residence in Mountain Lakes, not to mention the many detours, in addition to Las Vegas, that the tour provided them.

EXPANDING THEIR CAST

With their son Max in tow, the growing family embodied a nomadic lifestyle that Hollick likened to a traveling circus. The tight-knit theater community traveled en masse, sharing housing and forging friendships that come from living in close proximity,

Plus, they got to stay in a bunch of cool places including an organic farm and a historic tudor mansion.

When the tour hit The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Hollick received the Broadway offer. Plus, there was another baby on board. Their youngest, Eva was also born on tour.

The young family returned to New Jersey to raise their family, choosing Mountain Lakes for its access to public transit, as well as the borough’s good school district.

Meanwhile, Angela continued to make a name for herself, winning a Shark Tank investor competition for Mamachic, which was featured on Good Morning America.

With Hollick in the city during unconventional hours and Angela consulting, the power couple continue to balance raising a family with raising the curtain and they’ve got it down to an almost science.

For Hollick, this translates to a mid-afternoon 45-minute commute to the city, always erring on the side of caution by heading in earlier. With only an hour allotted for makeup alone, there is little wiggle room for being late, or even on time. But more often than not, he arrives with time to kill and takes it all in stride. It is a lifestyle he relishes.

“It’s perfect for parenthood,” he says. “I have freedom to break up the day. And if I get there early, maybe I’ll do hot yoga.”

The yoga helps with the physical demands of the complicated costume of Scar, which involves wires and motors that clock in between 30 and 40 pounds.

Hollick also has to tame the form-fitting plaster molded to his head. That’s where the mask is attached. “There’s a finger controller that operates it,” he says. He also wears a corset-like “cage” to protect the motorized costume. “And 20-pound leather pants,” he says. “It’s a demanding role.”

In addition to Scar, Hollick also plays the understudy for Zazoo, which entails another intricate costume complete with wings, eyes, and a head. He is also well-versed as Pumba, which involves a costume tipping the scales at 50 pounds.

Somewhere before joining the animal pride, but deep into his role in “Tarzan,” Hollick made an additional name for himself in the video game industry, specifically in Grand Theft Auto IV. “I was the protagonist,” he says. “It was a long process but a fun process.”

Hollick assumed the identity of Niko Bellic, performing voice acting and the motion capture. “The game broke all sorts of revenue records,” he says. “It also broke the mold for storytelling in video games, the first of its kind to be so cinematic.

Hollick clinched a VGA award for his role as well as a fan following that he corresponds with to date.

GIVING BACK

In paying his gifts forward, he founded The Mountain Lakes Children’s Theater, a summer program that immerses Borough students in the K-8 district in all matters performing. The high school students also lend a hand, serving as mentors for their younger counterparts.

“The kids can benefit directly, especially now with the mechanization of the arts,” he says.

In the current arts-indifferent climate, Hollick stresses the overall teachable moments involved in theater both on stage and behind the scenes.

“Some of the greatest civilizations have had strong theater traditions,” he says. “Theater instills life skills such as empathy, collaborating, the exchange of ideas and respect for others. By taking on a character, the kids get to walk in someone else’s shoes.”

The program provides a safe environment for children to express themselves on stage and even overcome their fears of public speaking.

As a technology-driven generation adapting to a rapidly advancing AI-ecosystem, the younger generations are more in tune with their devices than they are with each other, he notes. Theater helps to recreate the human connection, he says.

“AI is meant to give humans exactly what they need, and the architects of the technology have designed it to increase engagement for profit,” he says. “In order to be successful, you have to be able to understand human beings and have people skills.”

The program is equal parts about the process as it is the performance, not to mention the downright giddy fun.

There is more focus on the overall experience leading up to the main event than it is the spotlight on performance-driven results. Angela, too, is involved, taking on the roles of producer as well as mentor for student producers in the business of production and live events.

“When you apply yourself with your friends to a common goal and get through the hard stuff, there’s a certain pride in the end,” Hollick says. “There are many aha moments.”

On his current stage, Hollick remains optimistic that he will not be replaced by humanoid actors. In the meantime, he hopes to expand accessibility to live experiences on the local level, and the children’s theater is just the start.

“If we can use the same buy-local mentality that is applied to markets to live community-based events, that would be a start,” he says, acknowledging the often-excessive

ticketing prices. “You’re paying for the value of a live experience.”

The Mountain Lakes Children’s Theater is part of the school district’s summer academy. The four-week program runs from the end of June through July and will culminate in a live performance. Last year, the theater produced “The Addams Family,” and this year’s show is currently being decided.

BY ELLEN S. WILKOWE