Sister Act: The Musical Eyes West End Run

A full-fledged, retuned production of Sister Act: The Musical, a stage adaptation of the 1992 Whoopi Goldberg film of the same title, is eyeing a West End berth in June 2009 at the London Palladium. The Daily Mail reports that the show would make its London debut following the Palladium’s current production of The Sound of Music, which closes in February 2009.

Sister Act is the story of a floundering Reno lounge singer who shakes up the lives and musical playlists of a community of nuns while hiding at their convent as part of the witness protection program. The show, featuring a 70s, R&B-influenced score by composer Alan Menken Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid with lyrics by Glenn Slater A Class Act, The Little Mermaid, tried out at California’s Pasadena Playhouse in November 2006 before transferring to Atlanta, Georgia, for a five-week run in early 2007. The production, starring Dawnn Lewis in Goldberg’s former role as singer Deloris and Elizabeth Ward Land as the convent’s Mother Superior, received mixed reviews and was “entirely retooled” for a successful private workshop presented in London earlier this year.

A second West End workshop is reportedly planned for early 2009, with Mamma Mia! choreographer Anthony Van Laast on call to flesh out the show’s musical numbers.