I've been sitting on two interesting bits of theatre casting info.  Here they are, short and sweet...

One Shot Deal at The Minskoff: On eThursday, January 14th Whoopi Goldberg was scheduled to be making  surprise cameos appearances in The Lion King. But don't despair if you love Whoopi and missed it. The View will have its camera's positioned to capture the performance for a feature slated to run sometime this week.

    Goldberg, who serves as one of the moderators on The View, is no stranger to The Lion King having originated the voice of Shenzi the Hyena in the 1994 Disney animated feature. As Flounder said in Animal House, "This is gonna be great!"

Tales of South Pacific:  Paulo Szot, who originated the role of Emile de Beque in the long running Lincoln Center hit, will be leaving the show on January 24^th. The good news in his replacement from February 2^nd thru March 21st is David Pittsinger, the same critically-acclaimed Bass-Baritone that covered for him last winter and spring when Szot was off fulfilling international operatic commitments.  And guess what?  Szot's leave of absence is for the same reason - only this time, he'll be remaining on the same Lincoln Center campus as South Pacific. He's preparing for his Metropolitan Opera debut in the new production of Shostakovich's The Nose. He'll return to Nellie Forbush and the Vivian Beaumont on March 30^th.  [For the record, William Michals - who I recently saw & loved in the role -- will be playing de Beque for all non-Pittsinger performances during the two month period.]

Posted on January 14, 2010 - by

Browse: Broadway