I can't imagine she will be in the show too much. I'm guess she'll have maybe four appearances at the most. Probably a background animal in the opening scene; one of the short Rafiki speaking scenes; perhaps a member of the African tribe during "They Live in You"; and something in the end.
An above poster is very correct -- it will be VERY distracting. I didn't know Disney got to the point where THE LION KING needs a marketing scheme to start selling tickets.
And the Playbill article is incorrect - this is not her return to the "legit stage" and she did a stint in XANADU last year...
"The Spectacle has, indeed, an emotional attraction of its own, but, of all the parts, it is the least artistic, and connected least with the art of poetry. For the power of Tragedy, we may be sure, is felt even apart from representation and actors. Besides, the production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet."
--Aristotle
