Whoopi Goldberg to Get a Fresh View of The Lion King with Cameo Appearance

Whoopi Goldberg is getting a fresh view of Broadway. The multi-award-winning performer and host of TV gabfest The View is set to appear in a series of cameos throughout the 8pm performance of The Lion King on January 14 at the Minskoff Theatre. The appearance marks a return for Goldberg to the legit stage and her Lion King roots, having originated the voice of Shenzi the Hyena in the 1994 Disney animated feature.

Goldberg is one of a elite group of artists who have won the Grammy (Whoopi Goldberg, 1985), the Academy Award (Ghost, 1991), the Golden Globe (The Color Purple, 1985 and Ghost, 1991), the Emmy (as host of AMC's Beyond Tara: The Extraordinary Life of Hattie McDaniel, 2002) and the Tony (producer of Thoroughly Modern Millie, 2002). In August 2009, Goldberg added a Daytime Emmy for The View to her collection. Goldberg made her Broadway debut in her self-titled one-woman show, Whoopi in 1984 and returned to the stage in the 1997 revival of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. In 2003, she produced and starred in the title role of the revival of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. She commemorated the 20th anniversary of her original one-woman show with a Tony-nominated engagement and later returned to the Broadway stage in 2008 with a limited run in the musical, Xanadu. She is also one of the producers of the West End show, Sister Act: The Musical.

Goldberg’s rehearsals and the performance in the Tony-winning Lion King will be documented by The View’s and aired the week of January 18.