Blue singer Simon Webbe will be joining his bandmate and Legally Blonde star Duncan James in the West End this summer when he joins the cast of Sister Act at the London Palladium.
Webbe will play gangster Curtis Shank in the habit-forming musical from 31 May, joining a cast that includes Patina Miller, Sheila Hancock and Ian Lavender.
Webbe, whose success in pop band Blue was followed by two solo albums and an appearance on ITV’s I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here, makes his West End debut in Sister Act. Commenting on joining the show, Webbe said: “I knew from the minute the curtain went up and the band kicked in that this was a show I wanted to be in. The audition process was nervewracking of course, but it just made me more determined to get the part. I’ve performed to thousands and thousands of people with Blue, but to be playing this role on stage at the London Palladium is going to be something else completely, and I’m honoured to be doing it opposite Patina, Sheila and this brilliant company. I literally can’t wait!”
Based on the 1992 film starring Whoopi Goldberg – who co-produces the stage show – Sister Act tells the story of nightclub singer Deloris Van Cartier, who witnesses her mobster boyfriend Curtis carry out a murder. To escape his clutches, the flamboyant singer is put in protective custody in a convent and proceeds to make more than a little impact on the resident nuns and their stern Mother Superior.
Sister Act opened at the London Palladium in May 2009 and was nominated for four Laurence Olivier Awards earlier this year.
Miller, Lavender and Hancock remain in the cast, with Hancock performing only five shows a week due to her judging duties on Saturday night BBC casting show Over The Rainbow.
Also joining Sister Act along with Webbe are Jacqueline Clarke as Sister Mary Lazarus and ensemble members Lauren Appleby, Kiara Jay, Rachel John, Aaron Lee Lambert, Ellie Leah, Amanda Minihan, Grant Murphy, Nathaniel Morrison, Ashley Russell and Carrie Sutton.
CB