Sister Act

After receiving the news that her mother has suffered from a severe stroke, Whoopi Goldberg has had to fly home today, Friday 27 August, to be with her family. The role of 'Mother Superior' will be played by Ms Goldberg's understudy until Thursday 2 September, when Sally Dexter will assume the role.

Ms Goldberg is very sorry not to be able to perform as planned and the thoughts and sincere best wishes of the Producers and the entire Sister Act Company are with her at this difficult time.

Sister Act continues its successful run at The London Palladium until Saturday 30th October 2010. Patrons who have booked to see Whoopi Goldberg who do not wish to attend the scheduled performance should refer back to their original point of sale.

Whoopi Goldberg has attracted a whole host of new celebrity fans to the show, including our very own Prime Minister, David Cameron! The Prime Minister attended the show last Wednesday evening and afterwards was photographed with the cast.

Our sisters help to launch NATIONAL SISTER’S DAY outside the Palladium! We have joined forces with leading greetings retailer CLINTON CARDS to celebrate NATIONAL SISTER’S DAY on Thursday 5 August. This is the first of an annual event for sisters and friends everywhere to embrace sisterhood and show how special they really are to each other.

Cards and gifts are available at Clintons now and customers can also enter a fantastic competition to win a luxury weekend for four to see Sister Act the Musical.

Whoopi Goldberg will join the cast of the hit musical comedy SISTER ACT this summer to play the role of Mother Superior. She will open on TUESDAY 10 AUGUST, with her last performance on TUESDAY 31 AUGUST, playing an exclusive 23 show season. No stranger to stages around the world, the role however marks Whoopi's West End debut.

Whoopi Goldberg will not be appearing on Monday 16 August and Monday 23 August.

Whoopi follows the hugely popular Sheila Hancock, who created the role and has played Mother Superior since the show opened last May. She is joined on stage by the critically acclaimed Patina Miller in the lead role of Deloris Van Cartier (Whoopi's role in the original movie), recording artist Simon Webbe as Curtis Shank and Dads Army star Ian Lavender as Monsignor.

Catch a glimpse of Sister Act and the Palladium as two Eastenders head Up West in Thursday's episode!

We are delighted to announce that leading international recording artist Simon Webbe is to join the cast of the show on Monday May 31. Simon will play the role of Curtis Shank, the bad-boy lover of the story's heroine Deloris Van Cartier. Shank's various job titles include nightclub owner, gangster and love machine!

You can follow Simon on Twitter @simonwebbe1

When the team from Sister Act The Musical and Barnardo's got together to launch London's first ever Nun Run last year, few could have imagined what a success it would be and indeed what the sight of a thousand nuns would look like as they pounded the streets of the capital. The run raised over £30,000, which was donated to Barnardo's and was the start of an annual gathering of sisters...in trainers!

Following on from the success of last year, the Nun Run 2010 has been announced! On 2nd May 2010, join the crowd of nuns who will pound the streets of London once more to raise money for Barnardo's. For more information and how to sign up see our Nun Run page. Plus see how you could be in with a chance of winning a VIP weekend break to Sister Act!

News has just come in today about the shows nominated for this year’s Laurence Olivier Awards- and our fabulous Sisters have done themselves proud again- they’re in the running for no less than four awards! There will be some very excited nuns singing and dancing on the stage of the London Palladium tonight!

Our leading lady Patina Miller is nominated for BEST ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL OR ENTERTAINMENT, whilst the delightful Sheila Hancock is up for BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMANCE IN A MUSICAL OR ENTERTAINMENT. Anthony Van Laast has been short-listed for BEST THEATRE CHOREOGRAPHER, and, most exciting of all, Sister Act is nominated for the highly acclaimed BEST NEW MUSICAL award.

Best of luck to our fabulous cast and crew- you deserve it!

Last week our fabulous cast performed a brilliant rendition of Raise Your Voice for none other than Her Royal Highness the Queen at the Royal Variety Performance! The show, which aired last night on ITV1, was a huge success, being watched by over 9 million viewers.

Our own Sister Act royalty, Whoopi Goldberg, flew over to Blackpool herself for the special occasion, and introduced the cast performance. Sister Act also led the closing of the entire show with a finale of Spread The Love Around , where they were joined on stage by all the other stars and performers, including Bette Middler, Michael Bublé, Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, host Peter Kay and of course our very own Whoopi Goldberg. They were then joined on stage by the Queen who was introduced to all the performers, including our leading lady Patina Miller.

Watch the cast's performance of Raise Your Voice and the grand finale of Spread the Love Around!

Our fabulous cast will be working almost as hard as Santa on and off the stage this Christmas to spread the festive love far and wide. Don’t miss them on the following TV shows in the coming weeks leading up to Christmas.

On Monday 30th Nov at 8.00pm on Five, did you see the Gadget show special coming to you from the London Palladium itself – look out for repeats of ours nuns testing the latest stocking-filling gadgets throughout Christmas. On Thursday 17th December, the Sister Act cast are very excited to be performing on the Royal Variety Show on ITV1! Ian Lavender and Patina Miller will be testing out their culinary skills on Ready Steady Cook on Thursday 24th Dec at 4.30pm on BBC 2, and finally our very own Sister Mary Robert, Katie Rowley Jones, will be exercising her general knowledge on The Weakest Link- Musical Special- check back for further details on that!

Our fabulous leading lady Patina Miller is losing her habit from 11pm tonight to perform live in the intimate settings of the Delfont Rooms. There are a limited number of standing tickets still available for this concert so book now! Don’t miss this exclusive performance tonight!

And as if this wasn’t enough for one week, Patina will also be appearing on Radio 2’s Friday Night is Music Night this Friday at 7.30pm, which you can listen to here.

Don’t forget to show your support for Patina by voting for her here as London’s Newcomer of the Year and Best Actress in a Musical for the Whatonstage.com awards.

Our sisters are all set to sparkle at this year's Royal Variety Show! The cast of the show will take to the stage along side Katherine Jenkins, Miley Cyrus, X Factor winner Alexandra Burke and Britain's Got Talent winners Diversity. Whoopi Goldberg, co-producer of the show and star of the hit film, will also be attending. The Royal Variety show will take place in Blackpool on 16th Dec and will be aired on ITV1 later in the month – don't miss it!

'Celebrity fans spotted seeing Sister Act'. It looks like our heavenly show has attracted a famous fan following!

Patina and her singing sisters have been hard at work in the recording studio again, laying down tracks for the Original Cast Recording album which is launched today! The album is available now to purchase from all larger Tesco stores with a music section.

To celebrate the launch, our disco diva, Patina Miller and our Mother Superior, Sheila Hancock will be at Dress Circle on Monmouth Street next Saturday 1 August from 12pm signing copies of the album for you to buy- don’t miss it!

Celebrate the launch of the Sister Act cast recording album with an exclusive live performance at the world famous HMV flagship store at Oxford Circus on Mon 27 July at 1.30pm. Patina Miller and her singing sisters will perform a taster from the new album and will be available to sign your CD's afterwards. Don't miss your chance to see the cast perform live and the debut of the cast album! See you there!

The album is now available to pre-order from iTunes ahead of it's release on 27th July and comes complete with a digital copy of the lyric booklet. Click here to order your copy.

Sister Act world premiere gets the whole house on their feet and Whoopi dancing on the Palladium stage!

Last night saw the red carpet rolled out at the front of the London Palladium for the official opening night performance of Sister Act. Guests at the premiere included Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tim Rice, Elaine Page, Bruce Forsyth, Cilla Black, Jane Krakowski, Sinita, Jason Isaacs, Christopher Biggins, Les Dennis, Brian Conley, Sheridan Smith, Claire Sweeney and Gok Wan. Producer Whoopi Goldberg graced the stage with her presence for the final curtain call, coming on to congratulate...

Tonight is the big night for Sister Act at the London Palladium! After four weeks of previews ending in standing ovations, the show has been honed and polished to make sure it truly takes you to heaven and the cast of Sister Act will be performing to the national press tonight for the show's official opening night. Everyone has been working their wimples off to bring you what promises to be the most fabulous show in the West End so congratulations to all the cast and crew involved and best wishes for tonight!

To celebrate this big day we're bringing you this exclusive video diary which shows the cast's first time on stage, the construction of the set, and features interviews with the cast including Patina Miller and Sheila Hancock, producer Whoopi Goldberg and choreographer Anthony van Laast.

We're now three weeks into the previews of our divine new musical comedy and we've been sold out every night! The show is going spectacularly well and audiences have been on their feet and dancing in the aisles at every performance - we couldn't have imagined a better start to our run! And to keep the cast in tip-top shape for 8 shows a week, Chelsea Football Club boss Guus Hiddink invited the cast to Stamford Bridge last week to put our sisters through their paces on the pitch! He said: 'They trained very well and really made me sweat. They are great as working together as a team'.

To give you an insight into the lives of our all-singing-all-dancing nuns off the stage, we've added...

Hallelujah! It's been months in the making so we are very excited to say that Sister Act starts previews this Thursday 7 May! We are absolutely thrilled with the way the show is shaping up and are looking forward to sharing it with you very soon. The final sequins have been sewn onto the costumes, the cast are performing the dance routines in their sleep and the Palladium is aglow with lights and alive with singing. So what are you waiting for?! Get your tickets booked to secure your seat at the hottest new musical comedy!

Last week Patina Miller and the supporting cast of nuns from Sister Act the Musical recorded 2 sensational new tracks and filmed a fabulous music video exclusively for you to enjoy as a taste of what's to come when the show opens to previews on May 7. With music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Glenn Slater, Raise Your Voice and Take Me To Heaven are available to download free of charge by clicking here and on iTunes.

Co-producer Whoopi Goldberg is now in London to work with the cast of Sister Act in their rehearsals. She'll be passing on all her knowledge and expertise about Sister Act and working especially closely with Patina Miller who will be playing 'Deloris Van Cartier', the role Whoopi made famous in the smash-hit film. You can check out new photos from the rehearsal room here.

While she's in town Whoopi will be making appearances to talk about the show on Chris Moyles (BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show, from 8am on Friday April 3rd), Friday Night With Jonathan Ross (Friday April 3rd), Steve Wright (BBC Radio 2 from 2pm Monday April 6th), GMTV (Monday April 6th)...

The show has been cast and rehearsals are now well underway in the studio with less than 7 weeks until our first preview!

We have now officially moved into the Palladium, the Sister Act display signage is up with our 'Deloris' attracting the attention of everyone as they walk down Argyll Street. Backstage the stage is being laid with our revolve installed ready for the set to go in and the dressing rooms being given a fresh lick of paint before Patina and the rest of the cast move into their new home in just a few weeks time...

After a year long global search, 24 year old US actress Patina Miller has been cast to make her West End debut playing the lead role of 'Deloris Van Cartier' in the divine new musical comedy "SISTER ACT".  Born and raised in South Carolina, Patina's previous credits include the critically acclaimed 2008 production of Hair in New York.  The role of Deloris in "SISTER ACT" was made famous by Whoopi Goldberg in the movie of the same name, and Goldberg is a co-producer of the stage version. 

Starring alongside Patina will be Sheila Hancock as 'Mother Superior'.  To many, a national...

Whoopi Goldberg and Stage Entertainment have announced that they will produce the Premiere of SISTER ACT, a divine new musical comedy based on the international hit movie. Whoopi Goldberg made the announcement on U.S. chat show, The View, which she co-hosts. She announced that the show will open at the home of family entertainment, the London Palladium, on Tuesday 2 June 2009, with previews from Wednesday 6 May.

SISTER ACT features a score by Alan Menken, eight-time Oscar winner and the genius behind many of the world famous songs from Disney’s movies, including The Little Mermaid, Beauty &...