Whoopi! Broadway Gets Goldberg for Tonys

When it comes to hosting big award shows, Whoopi Goldberg knows a thing or two. The current co-host on The View has a golden resume that includes four-time Academy Award host, as well as numerous other hosting duties for Comic Relief and other events. Now the gifted Tony Winner and multiple Tony nominee will be hosting the 2008 Tony Awards live from Radio City Music Hall on June 15. Will Broadway ever be the same again?

"She's completely of the theatre," says Howard Sherman, Executive Director for the American Theatre Wing, the organization that is responsible for the Tony Awards along with The Broadway League. Whoopi is seen by many as a casting coup for the Broadway-themed Award Show.

Having won a Tony Award for producing Thoroughly Modern Millie, Goldberg remembers that it was "very crowded onstage" with the other producers. However, she adds that is was quite rewarding because it took seven years to bring that production to Broadway. The 2008-2009 season will bring two more Goldberg-produced Broadway shows including the extraordinary 'for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf' by Ntozake Shange. Reviving this powerful play with India.Arie in the cast, will likely bring more accolades to Whoopi from Broadway.

In addition to that revival, she is part of the producing team behind a new Broadway-bound musical called "Bricktop" about Ada "Bricktop" Smith who lived in Paris at about the same time as Josephine Baker. Smith was an African-American vaudevillian ran the "Chez Bricktop" nightclub in Paris during the 1920s. Featuring such figures as, Duke Ellington, Mabel Mercer, Cole Porter, and F. Scott Fitzgerald the musical sounds promising.

After hosting so many award shows, did the beloved celebrity have any hesitation in taking on the Tony Awards? "No hesitation at all," she says. The Tony Awards broadcast on CBS give this outspoken star a national media platform during one of the most electrifying and ground-breaking seasons on Broadway. While Whoopi is certainly unpredictable, she is always watchable. For the record, Whoopi Goldberg is one of a handful of artists who have won a Tony, Oscar, Emmy, and a Grammy.

For this accomplishment, she joins the elite company of such Broadway luminaries as Richard Rodgers, Rita Moreno, John Geilgud, Mel Brooks and Helen Hayes. Now, if she can win an Emmy for hosting the Tonys, it will be a feat truly worthy of Whoopi Goldberg's talents. No doubt, Broadway is staying tuned! Watch the full Whoopi Goldberg interview on Broadway.tv during our "34 Days of Tony" celebration

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Whoopi Goldberg, Broadway, Tony Awards, The View, Academy Award, Comic Relief, Radio City Music Hall, Howard Sherman, The Broadway League, Thoroughly Modern Millie, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow Is Enuf, Ntozake Shange, India Arie, Oscar, Emmy, Grammy, Bricktop, Ada Bricktop Smith, Josephine Baker, CBS, Chez Bricktop, Duke Ellington, Mabel Mercer, Cole Porter, F Scott Fitzgerald, Richard Rodgers, Rita Moreno, John Geilgud, Mel Brooks, Helen Hayes