Decorated with spikes and an armor-like lion costume, Dan Donohue knows almost every eye in the packed theater is on him as he stalks around the stage, tempting Simba to visit an elephant graveyard.

"I walk out on stage and I know the audience is wondering, 'What is he going to do?'"he said. "The stakes are really high for Scar, and that is really fun."

Donohue plays Simba's evil uncle Scar in the First National Tour's production of "The Lion King." The Tony award-winning show is in a nearly seven-week run at Wharton Center.

Donohue, who has been on tour with "The Lion King" for about two and a half years, said Scar is very active at achieving his goals.

"The role itself appeals to me because (with) any great villain in a story, there is a certain amount of energy that goes with that character," he said. "He's trying to manipulate the characters and situation to get what he wants."

Rob Roznowski, MSU Department of Theatre's head of acting, said preparing for the part of an evil character requires the actor to search for the character's motives.

"You have to look for positives in evil characters," he said. "He's operating for what he thinks are the right reasons."

Carly Hanna, an audiology and speech sciences freshman, said she enjoyed Donohue's performance when she saw the show on Friday night.

"His voice was really creepy. He was really dark," she said.

Donohue said Scar also evokes characters from Shakespeare's plays, particularly Claudius of "Hamlet."

"The story is a lot like 'Hamlet.' A king is killed by his brother. That brother becomes the king. That brother tries to get rid of the heir of the throne," he said.

The story isn't an exact replica though. In "The Lion King," Simba runs away from Pride Rock after his father is killed.

In "Hamlet" the prince returns to Denmark for his father's funeral, only to find his uncle has unrightfully crowned himself king.

Roznowski said he agrees there are many similarities between the story lines. Both Simba and Hamlet are haunted by their departed fathers — "the ghost that keeps appearing," he said.

Those ghosts cause internal struggles within the two characters before they decide to challenge their uncles.

Besides Simba, additional characters reminisce more of Shakespeare's other characters.

"Timon and Pumbaa are typical Shakespearean clowns," Roznowski said.

Shakespeare is common ground for Donohue, whose credits include "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and more than 30 roles in 23 plays at Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

He said his work in Shakespearean plays has helped him quite a bit.

"The way that they cast this role, at least from what I can tell, they cast people with classical training," Donohue said.

Currently, there are two nationally touring productions and one permanent production in New York City. There are also multiple productions around the world in cities such as Tokyo, London and Hamburg, Germany.

"Every time I meet someone who plays the role, I'm always full of questions," he said.

"It's fun to see how they play certain moments in the play. You get to exchange notes a bit."

Donohue said he has to be aware of various elements when playing the part of a talking lion.

"There's a duality there," he said. "Half is very human."

The other part is about the silhouette of a cat or lion. "It's really helpful to watch the movement ? that comes out of an animal," Donohue said.

To add to the look, Donohue wears 35 pounds of costume — including a 9-ounce mechanical mask.

"The mask sits on top of my head like a headdress," he said.

In 1998, the musical won six Tony awards, including Best Costume Design. Production of the puppets and masks alone took 17,000 hours.

To learn to control his mask, Donohue had to practice in front of mirrors, video cameras and directors who would coach him.

Roznowski said he was impressed by the way Donohue manipulated his mask in a variety of methods.

"The way that the actor has to change his mask is a different level of acting," Roznowski said.

Hanna also said she was impressed by Scar's and Mufasa's masks, which are very similar.

"Whenever they leaned over, the lion head leaned over," she said. "It was like the masks were talking."

Donohue credits the success of "The Lion King," in part, to the costume design by Julie Taymor, because it challenges the audience to use more imagination. In most cases, the puppeteer is visible with the puppet.

"They will lean forward," he said. "They complete the picture halfway."

So each time Donohue returns to the stage, he said playing the wild-card character engages the audience further.

"They are always going to watch that character to see what he is going to do," he said.