I pleaded with two of my 12 bosses. I threatened to hold my breath until I fainted.

It’s not that I don’t like a good story. I just didn’t think this was a story at all. Try not to forget I’m a news journalist under all this TV show icing. I begged for them to send me to Iraq when the war started and reporters were being embedded. They said no. I asked to go to Katrina before the hurricane made landfall… they said no. I even called an old boss at our sister station in Houston and said I would take my vacation time and work for him as Katrina landed. He said no. Others were sent.

This time I said don’t send me! Send someone else. The bosses said, “Shut up and GO!”

See I thought this story was going to stink to the high heavens. “It’s NOT A STORY!” I argued. “It’s going to blow so bad and be just awful for our show.”

So I dreaded pretty much every second of the flight and the cab ride and the elevator ride up to the theatre. “Dear God,” I prayed under my breath, “Let this NOT be what I believe it will end up being?”

At that moment a booming thundering voice fell from the heavens shouting, “OH YEE OF LITTLE FAITH!” Then God said in a still small voice, “By the way, that little prayer was one poorly constructed sentence.”

Okay I made that last part up about the thundering voice from heaven. But I might as well have been struck with lightning or something. I was dead wrong about the story.

I was ordered to do a “behind the scenes” story on Disney’s “The Lion King” musical. (It’s coming to Charlotte and in fact will be here later this week.)

Oh great! Fancy, egotistical actors who deem themselves “special” looking down on a talentless landscape of average people. Could I bear the drudgery of them whining on and on about finding their motivation at any given time on stage and how hard it is to act? Hello yawn-fest. Goodbye viewers.

Besides I hate musicals. I don’t even go to movies.

But a funny thing happened on the way to this musical. We dropped down into the orchestra pit and met an amazing musician named Kay Ragsdale. She could not have been more fun. And she let us set up a mini-hi-def camera pointed right at her for the whole performance under the stage. It is very interesting. You’ll see.

Then we started meeting the actors. And guess what? They were a blast. Completely unpretentious, down to earth, happy-as-clams type people. In fact, the lead actor who plays Mufasa (theeeee Lion King) was sick as a dog and sweated his way through the interview giving it his best, never pouting or complaining once. He was totally engaging.

They were all so much fun I wanted to ask them to my house for dinner when they came to Charlotte. And in the past I’ve only done that for the Gourd Lady and the Button King.

Even, Sara, the PR flack Disney sent to make sure we behave was great to work with. She actually made our lives easier! What? Who? Yes. She went way above the call to make us happy.

So basically, I suck. I’m a horrible person. A total jerk. I had all these stupid wrong expectations and I’m a big loser. They turned out to be some of the kindest people you could ever meet.

And, and, and the head carpenter of the whole wiz-bang show is from Charlotte! Joe Bogdan is the mad scientist behind the scenes and he swung open the doors and let us hang out with him backstage while he and his enormous crew prepared for that night’s show.

None of it was a yawn-fest. Everyone, save for one guy, was happy to play with us. And I won’t tell you who that one guy was. He was not an actor. And I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt because when you live in hotels one city after the next, you’re entitled to throwing a snit now and then.

So I went into it certain the worst would happen and I was totally surprised at what we left with. You can see it all this Saturday night at 7:30. I was told to shoot one story behind the scenes at “The Lion King.” I ended up with enough great stuff to do a whole half hour show.

We’ll take you back stage to see things you just couldn’t imagine. Step right up, folks! See the world’s largest lint brush! (Seriously.)

You’ll see the lead actors relive that life-changing moment they got “THE CALL!” The “You got the part in Lion King” call. Then they relived for us the next call… the call home to mom to say, “Mom, I made it! I GOT THE PART!” It’s wonderful heart-warming stuff.

Oh! Did you know Kay Ragsdale plays primitive flutes made in small African and South American villages where they smoke the bamboo flutes over the same fire on which dinner is cooked? Yes, some of these odd instruments smell like baking ham. It’s a wonder Kay’s so trim.

It’s a hilarious, insightful show. You’ll see one of the most awarded and popular musicals in history from the inside out.

Watch Saturday night and see how very wrong I was. Such a dufus.

Hakuna Matada,

Mike Redding