Whoopi Goldberg Joins THE LION KING Cast for One Night Only, 1/14

Disney Theatrical Productions welcomes Oscar, Tony, Grammy and Emmy Award winner Whoopi Goldberg (moderator of ABC's "The View") to the cast of Broadway's landmark musical event, THE LION KING - for one night only - on Thursday, January 14 at the Minskoff Theatre (200 West 45th Street, NYC). Goldberg will appear in a series of surprise cameos throughout the 8pm performance. The announcement was made live this morning on "The View." The appearance marks a return for Goldberg to the legit stage and her Lion King roots, having originated the voice of Shenzi the Hyena more than 15 years ago in the 1994 Disney animated feature.

Goldberg's rehearsals and the performance itself will be captured by "The View's" own cameras for a feature airing the week of January 18.

Goldberg is one of a very 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 to her roster for The View.

On Broadway, Goldberg made her Broadway debut in her self-titled one-woman show, Whoopi (1984) and garnered rave reviews 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 one of the producers of the West End smash-hit, Sister Act: The Musical.

THE LION KING is the ninth longest-running musical in Broadway history and the first American musical in history to welcome 50 million guests worldwide. Now in its 13th smash year, THE LION KING officially opened on November 13, 1997 at the New Amsterdam Theatre and has consistently been among Broadway's top five grossing shows.

Based on the 1994 Disney animated film, THE LION KING continues to reign as one of the most popular shows on Broadway and around the world. The global phenomenon is the winner of more than 70 major awards worldwide, including the 1998 Tony Award® and NY Drama Critics Award for Best Musical, the 1999 Grammy® for Best Musical Show Album, and the 1999 Laurence Olivier Awards for Best Choreography and Best Costume Design. The show has been seen by over 50 million people in 13 different countries (US, Canada, UK, Japan, Germany, Holland, France, Mexico, Australia, China, Taiwan, South Africa and Korea) and translated into five different languages (Japanese, German, Korean, French, Dutch). In addition to Broadway and a North American tour, THE LION KING can also be seen on stage in London, Hamburg, Paris, Tokyo and Las Vegas with a new production opening in Singapore in September 2010.

Director Julie Taymor was the first woman in theatrical history to win the Tony Award for Best Director of a Musical. She is also the winner of the 1998 Tony Award for Best Costume Design.

THE LION KING ticket prices range from $69.50-$128.50, and are available online at www.TheLionKing.com, in-person at the Minskoff Theatre Box Office (200 West 45th Street) and Ticketmaster outlets, or by calling Ticketmaster's Disney on Broadway hotline at 866-870-2717.

Photo credit: Peter James Zielinski