Tshidi Manye Sets Final Lion King Performance After 9,000 Shows as Rafiki

After more than 9,000 performances, Tshidi Manye will mark her final show as Rafiki in The Lion King on August 31. Her replacement will be announced next week.

Manye is the longest-running Rafiki in all of Disney’s Lion King companies, joining the Toronto company in 2000 and coming to Broadway in 2007. Most of her 9,000 performances were in the New York production.

Among her other credits are the European and Japanese tours of Sarafina, as well as concert appearances with Paul Simon, David Byrne, and Hugh Masekela.

Watch one of Manye’s triumphant renditions of “Circle of Life” below: