Goldberg – a co-host of the ABC talk show "The View" – revealed on live TV July 14 that she would join the Broadway production in late July. Tony-nominated Xanadu cast member Mary Testa was in attendance for the live announcement. Goldberg has been cast as her sister muse Calliope/Aphrodite, currently portrayed by Jackie Hoffman.
Goldberg will join the Broadway production beginning July 29, for a six-week limited engagement through Sept. 7. Hoffman will be on leave from the production to promote the release of her album "Jackie Hoffman Live from Joe's Pub." Hoffman is scheduled to return to Xanadu Sept. 9.
"What better way to stick my toe back on to the Broadway stage than to join the amazing cast of Xanadu. It's such a fun show and is definitely my sensibility, as written by the divine Douglas Carter Beane. For me, it's going to be unbelievable," Goldberg said in a statement.
An Academy Award-winning actress, Whoopi Goldberg has appeared on Broadway in Whoopi, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (which she co-produced). In addition to earning a Grammy and Golden Globe Award, Goldberg is a Tony-winning producer of 2002's Thoroughly Modern Millie. Goldberg is also the producer of the forthcoming Broadway revival of for colored girls... starring Grammy Award winner India.Arie.
Xanadu currently features 2008 Tony nominee Kerry Butler, Curtis Holbrook (subbing for Damn Yankees' Cheyenne Jackson), Tony Roberts, Jackie Hoffman, Mary Testa, Kenita Miller, Patti Murin, Marty Thomas, Andre Ward and Ryan Watkinson. Xanadu boasts a book by Little Dog Laughed playwright Douglas Carter Beane — a 2007 Tony Award nominee — and utilizes songs from John Farrar and Jeff Lynne's film soundtrack. The musical, according to press notes, "tells the story of one of the nine muses of ancient Greece who comes to earth to inspire the greatest of artistic achievements – a roller disco. Along the way she falls in love, bumps into an old acquaintance and for the first time, feels the desire to create herself."
Xanadu received four 2008 Tony Award nominations, including one for Best Musical.
The Xanadu cast recording is available on the PS Classics label.
The Helen Hayes Theatre is located in Manhattan at 240 West 44th Street. For tickets call (212) 239-6200.
