Whoopi Goldberg, has now been confirmed as Sheila Hancock’s replacement for a limited run in Sister Act.

Having starred in the original film and produced the West End show, Goldberg will star as Mother Superior from August 10th to 31st.

No rates have been withdrawn – yet! So now is the time to book your tickets while the offers on the show are still valid. Offers still valid for the period starring Whoopi Goldberg are:

Was £38.25 NOW £29.50
Valid Monday to Thursday until the 30th October Excludes 25th to 28th October.

Was £62.50 NOW £44.99
Monday-Thursday performances from 8th July until 26th August Excludes school holidays.

See the Sister Act page for booking.

From the 16th June, Richard Fleeshman will play love-rat, Warner Huntington III.

Heart throb Richard is best known for his role in Coronation Street as Craig Harris, and for winning ITV’s Stars in their Eyes Celebrity Special, and ITV’s Soapstar Superstar, taking both titles in style.

Richard accompanied Elton John on his Summer Stadium and Red Piano Tours as well as releasing his own album – Neon.

Richard comments on his new role:

“I can’t wait to join the cast of Legally Blonde. I saw the show and absolutely loved it, and am thrilled to be playing the part of Warner. See you in June!”

Sister Act has won two awards in the WhatsOnStage.com Awards

Patina Miller was awarded the Best Actress In A Musical prize for her performance as Deloris in Sister Act but missed out to Diana Vickers in the Best Newcomer category.

The second award for Sister Act went to Natasha Katz for Best Lighting Designer.

Wicked the musical has scooped the Best West End show award in the WhatsOnStage.com awards

In a closely fought battle with War Horse – which was the only play nominated in this category – Wicked came out on top as the theatre-goers favourite West End show of the year.

The show is in its fourth year at London’s Apollo Victoria Theatre and has already been seen by more than 2.5 million people and taken in excess of £90 million at the UK Box Office.

Executive producer Michael McCabe commented:

It has been an incredible year for West End theatre, and the productions that made the shortlist for this special award are proof of the diversity and quality that have helped maintain London as the world leader for live entertainment.

We are therefore truly honoured that the public has chosen Wicked as London’s best West End show, and our heartfelt thanks go to everyone who voted.

Oliver and Priscilla were the biggest winners in the WhatsOnStage.com Awards yesterday voted for by the public.

Theatre-goers voted online for their favourites across 26 different categories between December and January. This year saw a record 46,000 voters take part – 11,000 more than the previous record set in 2009.

Oliver scooped three awards in total including Best Musical Revival, Best Supporting Actress In A Musical for Jody Prenger and Best Actor In A Musical for Rowan Atkinson.

In his acceptance video Rowan Atkinson spoke of his apprehension of taking the part, having never sung in a musical before. He said:

This is absolutely great. I’m genuinely very pleased and very touched. When I embarked on this journey to play the part of Fagin in Oliver!, I did so with a degree of apprehension.

I hadn’t been on the West End stage in 20 years and I had never sung in a musical – well, I’d never sung really. So it was quite a scary time, and what made it all possible was the warmth and accommodation and tolerance of the company of the production of Oliver!, all those actors, the adults and the children, and our directors and choreographers and designers, and, in particular, our director Rupert Goold for being so helpful to someone who was stepping with such trepidation into the project.

Also, of course, the warmth and accommodation and tolerance of the audience who kindly came to see us. As this is more than anything an audience award – and the audience in the end, I think, is the most important element in any theatrical event – it really means something. So I’d like to thank you all sitting there very much indeed, but I’d also like to thank mostly all those who voted for me, and all those real people who spent real money to come and see the show.

Thank you.

Priscilla took four awards for: Best New Musical, Best Supporting Actor In A Musical for Oliver Thornton, Best Set Designer for Brian Thomson and Best Choreographer for Ross Coleman.

2009 breaks box office records for takings and attendance

The Society of London Theatre (Solt) has reported that 2009 was a record year for both box office takings and attendance.

The number of visitors to London’s West End theatres in 2009 passed the 14 million mark for the first time, hitting 14,257,922 — up 5.5% — and box office revenues surpassed the half billion barrier for the first time with a revenue of £504,765,690 — up 7.6%. continue reading »

Rachel Weisz has been named best actress at this year’s Critics’ Circle Theatre Awards for her performance in A Streetcar Named Desire.

Mark Rylance was named best actor for Jerusalem and Jude Law the best Shakespearean performance prize for playing the title role in Hamlet.

Spring Awakening, which ran for a short time in the West End last year, picked up the best musical accolade.

This year’s awards were handed out at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London.

Read the BBC’s full report.