Sister Act Musical Workshopping for West End???

It seems that Sister Act: The Musical, the stage version of the hit 1992 film starring Whoopi Goldberg, is inching closer to its West End debut. According to today’s Daily Mail, a recent London workshop performance “went through the roof”, and another is planned for “early next year”.

The musical, with music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Glenn Slater and book by Cheri and Bill Steinkellner, premiered in Pasadena, California, in 2006, before transferring to Atlanta for a five-week run in early 2007. Despite early expectations of a Broadway transfer, this is yet to materialise, and previous rumours indicate that producers are keen to ‘try out’ in the West End first (See The Goss, 16 Apr 2008).

Sister Act, which tells the story of a Reno lounge singer who is put in protective custody in a convent, scored a hit at the cinema box office, grossing over $200million worldwide. The stage version, which transplants the action to 1970s Philadelphia, was described in a review for US website Theatremania.com as having “the potential to become a huge hit”, whilst requiring some “substantial changes” before a major transfer is ordained.