Goldberg will appear "in a series of surprise cameos throughout the 8 PM performance." The announcement was made live Jan. 13 on TV's "The View," which Goldberg moderates. The appearance marks a return for Goldberg to both the legit stage and her Lion King roots: she originated the voice of Shenzi the Hyena more than 15 years ago in the 1994 Disney animated feature.

Goldberg's Broadway rehearsals and the performance will be captured by "The View" for a feature airing the week of Jan. 18.

Goldberg 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 starred 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 hit, Sister Act: The Musical.

Based on the 1994 Disney animated film, The Lion King won the 1998 Tony Award as Best Musical. The show, directed by Tony winner Julie Taymor, has been seen by over 50 million people in 13 different countries. For tickets and information about Broadway's The Lion King, visit www.TheLionKing.com, or the Minskoff Theatre box office (200 West 45th Street), Ticketmaster outlets, or call Ticketmaster's Disney on Broadway hotline at (866) 870-2717.