The Circle of Life: Regiment alum Sanders' winding road to Pride Rock

Darian Sanders was praying for Broadway.

Over the years, the former Phantom Regiment drum major and staff member had seen doors open toward a lofty goal. He’d come in contact with agents and Broadway talent. He’d submitted his fair share of auditions.

A man for whom his faith is a high priority — the majority of his full-time career to date had been spent leading music in churches — Sanders and his wife spent significant time meditating and praying on the unknowns of his unrealized musical dreams.

“I was like, ‘Alright, I'm going to pray about it,” Sanders said. “Like, ‘God, open this door this, I want to be on Broadway.’”

Sanders’ life was plenty full, and deeply-rooted in his church music career, his Kentucky home, and his family. If Broadway was going to happen, it was going to have to come and find him. His prayers reflected that sentiment.

It wasn’t long before Sanders got exactly what he asked for.

He was named the worship pastor at Broadway Christian Church — in Lexington, Kentucky.

“I was like, ‘Oh,’” Sanders joked, “‘Maybe I need to be a little more specific.’”

Sanders’ “life after drum corps” has been a steady sequence of similarly serendipitous moments. Much like the ebbs, flows, twists and turns of a summer in drum corps — an experience he’s gone through several times, including three as a performer — Sanders’ path has been nothing but conventional.

But it’s landed him on the brightest stage — the Broadway-caliber stage, and no, not just the stage at his church in Lexington.

Sanders’ road, albeit winding, ultimately led him to the role of “Simba” with the national touring cast of Disney’s "The Lion King."

Hitting the Road

In a sense, the story of Sanders’ national performing career starts at Phantom Regiment. He took part in the Rockford corps for three years — one as a trumpet player in 2005 and two as drum major in 2006 and 2007.

From there, he worked as a staff member with the corps during their 2008 championship season, and then took a couple of years off before returning as an instructor through the summer of 2012.

 

But once a career in drum corps turned into a career in church music, Sanders’ life, in a sense settled down. The church setting became Sanders’ main “performance” opportunity, but it wasn’t the only one.

At a local basketball game in 2014 Sanders’ life as a performer took its first major hairpin turn when he was, as it were, “discovered” by a Broadway talent agent, Peggy Stamps, who was among those in the crowd.

The two connected not long after that night, thanks to a mutual friendship with one of Stamps’ clients. Stamps ultimately expressed her admiration for Sanders’ vocal talents, and planted the seed about Broadway performance in his mind.

“She was like, ‘Hey would you think about doing theater?’” Sanders said. “I said, ‘I play the trumpet. I’ve played and thought about doing it in an orchestra, but not singing on stage. I don’t dance, I don’t act.’”

Stamps, though, was persistent.

“She said, ‘It’s okay,’” Sanders continued. “‘We’re doing this Broadway Revue at the University of Kentucky, it’s called ‘A Grand Night for Singing.’ I would love for you to be a part of it.’”

Picking Up Speed

Sanders’ first theater experience spawned others. Through his opportunity with “A Grand Night for Singing,” he got connected with a handful of choreographers who were preparing a 2015 concert featuring an array of Broadway talent. They asked if he’d take part — he obliged.

“Again, I was like, ‘Well, I don't dance. I don't act,’” Sanders said. “They said, ‘That's absolutely great. That's what we want.’ They wanted me to do a solo, and they wanted me to do a duet.”

So, one thing led to another, and Sanders performed that duet with “Hamilton” and “Frozen” star Johnathan Groff.

No big deal.

 

Now, this encounter with Groff was in early 2015, a few months before “Hamilton” would take the Broadway scene by storm. But at that point, the show wasn’t far off from its marquee opening, and Groff saw Sanders as someone who had the ability to take part in what would eventually grow into one of the all-time great musicals.

“He was integral for me,” Sanders said. “He said, ‘Man, I’m on Broadway right now, and you could be on Broadway, doing what I’m doing with me in this cast, and being very successful.”

Ultimately, Groff wasn’t wrong per se, but he was just a few years early.

After a couple years of what Sanders described as “dabbling back and forth” in 2015 and 2016, Broadway — yes, the other one in Lexington, Kentucky — came calling.

“In 2017, that’s when I was like, ‘God, I really think I feel called to Broadway. There’s this itch that’s always there, and it hasn’t left,” Sanders said. “And I moved to Broadway Christian Church.”

 

Detours

Eventually, Sanders did end up auditioning for “Hamilton.” He went through several rounds of callbacks, and felt like things were heading in the right direction.

His manager didn’t necessarily disagree, but had other ideas to throw in the ring.

“While I was (auditioning for “Hamilton”), my manager said, ‘Hey, you should send in a tape for ‘The Lion King,’” Sanders said. “And I was like, ‘Yeah, I don’t know, all my signs are leading to ‘Hamilton’ right now.”

In the meantime, while Sanders was wrestling with what was best for him and his family — whether it be “The Lion King,” “Hamilton,” or not performing on Broadway at all — Sanders was once again sought out by a compelling job opportunity, one to work with a church in Louisville, about an hour down the road from his and his wife's hometown of Lexington.

It was an ideal job in an ideal location, and unlike any dreams being offered by the Broadway stage, it was tangible.

With that in mind, Sanders came to an important conclusion, and accepted that opportunity.

“We moved to Louisville saying, ‘Broadway’s not done with,’” Sanders said. “However, Broadway is going to have to pursue me the same way these churches have been pursuing me, in terms of employment.”

“And I looked at my wife,” he added, “and said, ‘I don’t think that’s going to happen. Broadway doesn’t pursue people.’”

Of course, many have mused that it’s when you allow yourself to let go of dreams that they end up coming and finding you.

As such, finally, enter “The Lion King.”

“It was our 2019 wedding anniversary, and I got a call from a manager,” Sanders said. And she says, ‘Hey, I just got a call. There's an opportunity for you to audition for ‘The Lion King,’ would you like to?’”

Sanders’ prayers — his specific prayers, had been answered. By the fall of 2019, Sanders earned a touring role in “The Lion King’s” ensemble, with the added responsibility of understudying Simba.

“This was exactly what we’d been praying about,” he said. “We’d said that if Broadway pursues me, we’ll look at that door and opportunity.”

Of course, the bumps in the road didn’t stop when Sanders was finally cast. His first several weeks of performance with “The Lion King” started with an ensemble role before a debut as Simba in Sanders’ home state of Kentucky.

That night, Sanders described, was unforgettable.

“It was this big hoopla and ordeal,” Sanders said. “I got to debut for my wife, my best friend, my family, and a sold-out crowd.”

It’s also the night he tore his meniscus.

“I didn’t know it at the time that I tore my meniscus, but I knew I’d injured myself,” he added. “I ended up taking it and getting it repaired, and started physical therapy around January 2020. And we all know what happened in March 2020.”

Arrival

Luckily, once the Broadway door was swung open, it never closed on Sanders, despite notable setbacks — not limited, of course, to his injury and the pandemic-induced shutdown of theaters around the country.

The timing worked out for the best, in reality. All while Sanders’ recovery time lined up alongside the industry’s down time, the performer who’d been in the touring role of Simba, Brandon McCall, moved into the same role in New York, opening up the opportunity for Sanders to take on the leading role with the touring cast.

When the time came for “The Lion King” to resume its tour in the fall of 2021, Sanders was able to return to his role of Simba, and he’s been doing so ever since.

“(McCall) is a really good friend of mine,” Sanders said. “And I was able to audition and take over his role.”

Now, he’s able to enjoy the life which he envisioned, on and off, for the better part of five years. His wife and four-year-old son are able to join him on the road whenever they please, and he spends his work weeks performing the role of Simba to audiences across the country.

He readily admits it. It’s a pretty great setup.

“My wife is a stay-at-home mom, and she’s able to come on and off the road whenever she wants to,” Sanders said. “Sometimes they want to come to different cities, so they come on out. Sometimes they want to stay at home, so I fly home and meet them.”

“We make it work.”

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If anything prepared Sanders for the unexpected turns on his road to the bright lights of Broadway — as well as his time as a Broadway performer itself — it was his time in drum corps.

Sanders looks back and sees his experience as a drum corps performer as pivotal in teaching him numerous characteristics of a great performer — among many things, namely, the stamina it takes to put on several performances in a short span of time.

“In 2007, there were multiple weeks, multiple days, multiple hours, multiple blocks that we would literally just line up on one end of the endzone, and literally just sprint from end zone to end zone playing Firebird,” he said. “The breath control that we had to have, all these different things, I’ve applied to the stage.”

And sure, the tour he’s on now is a bit more glamorous. The stage is a bit more prominent. The lights are a bit brighter.

But at the end of the day, Sanders treats it all the same.

“We still put on the same performance every night, the same way with drum corps,” he said. “It doesn't matter whether it’s a small, mom-and-pop, five-corps show or whether it’s a regional, you still give it 100 percent. You still give your all.”