London stage regular Sally Dexter will become the West End’s latest nun when she takes over Sister Act’s Mother Superior duties from Whoopi Goldberg at the beginning of September.
Goldberg, who both starred in the film on which the musical is based and co-produces the stage production, brings her West End debut to a close on 31 August, with Dexter picking up the holy baton from 1 September and playing the Mother Superior until the show closes on 30 October.
Dexter’s most recent London stage appearance came in another film-to-stage adaptation, Billy Elliot – The Musical, in which she played Mrs Wilkinson. She has previously appeared in Bad Girls The Musical, has worked extensively with both the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre, and won the 1986 Laurence Olivier Award for Most Promising Newcomer for her performance in Dalliance.
The tale of a showgirl forced to take to convent life after she witnesses a murder and is hidden in a witness protection scheme, Sister Act opened at the London Palladium in May 2009. It collected four Laurence Olivier Award nominations including nods for original Mother Superior Sheila Hancock and leading lady Patina Miller, who continues to play Deloris van Cartier.
The curtain will come down on the production at the end of October as the London Palladium prepares for the arrival of The Wizard Of Oz, which opens in the new year.
MA