STAGE TUBE: Whoopi Goldberg Talks West End Debut in SISTER ACT!

Whoopi Goldberg joined the cast of the hit musical comedy SISTER ACT on Tuesday, August 10 in the role of Mother Superior. She will perform in the show through Tuesday August 31st, playing an exclusive 23 show run. No stranger to stages around the world, the role however marks Whoopi's West End debut. Whoopi follows the hugely popular Sheila Hancock, who created the role and has played Mother Superior since the show opened in May last year. She is joined on stage by the critically acclaimed Patina Miller in the lead role of Deloris Van Cartier (Whoopi's role in the original movie), recording artist Simon Webbe as Curtis Shank and Dad's Army star Ian Lavender as Monsignor. Below, BroadwayWorld brings you a clip of Golberg herself weighing in on how it feels to make her West End debut in a show that hits especially close to home.

Whoopi Goldberg is among the most well-known performers around the world. She shot to international fame with her Oscar-nominated performance in Steven Spielberg's The Color Purple, before embarking on a prolific Hollywood career with films such as Jumpin' Jack Flash, Soapdish, The Lion King, How Stella Got Her Groove Back and, of course, Sister Act and its sequel. She has had success in virtually every area of entertainment, from film and television, to stage and recording, to radio host and best-selling author. In addition to the critically-acclaimed one-woman show that launched her career and the 20th anniversary production of that show in 2005, Whoopi starred on Broadway in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom and, most recently, Xanadu. She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Ghost in 1991 and is one of a very elite group of artists who has also won the Grammy, the Golden Globe, the Emmy and, as producer of the original Broadway production of Thoroughly Modern Millie in 2002, a Tony Award. She is currently moderator of the award-winning, top rating daytime talk show The View.

The cast also includes Ako Mitchell as Eddie, Katie Rowley Jones as Sister Mary Robert, Claire Greenway as Sister Mary Patrick, Jacqueline Clarke as Sister Mary Lazarus, Nicholas Colicos as Bones, Thomas Goodridge as TJ and Ivan De Freitas as Dinero.

The record breaking production was recently nominated in seven categories at this year's Whatsonstage.com Theatregoers Choice Awards and for four awards at the prestigious Laurence Olivier Awards. The show's Original Cast Recording is also a big favourite with fans, recently reaching Number 1 on the iTunes Soundtrack chart and Number 3 on amazon.co.uk's pre-order chart. A German production of Sister Act will open in Hamburg in December 2010, followed by Broadway in Spring 2011, and international productions in Australia, Mexico, Japan, South Korea, Italy, France and Spain soon after.

SISTER ACT features a score by Alan Menken, eight-time Oscar winner and the genius behind many of the world famous songs from Disney's movies, including The Little Mermaid, Beauty & The Beast, Aladdin and Enchanted, with lyrics from his long time collaborator, Glenn Slater. The book is by the award-winning team, Cheri and Bill Steinkellner, whose writing credits include the classic television comedy Cheers. The SISTER ACT creative team is completed by Musical Supervisor Michael Kosarin, Choreographer Anthony Van Laast, Set Designer Klara Zieglerova, Costume Designer Lez Brotherston, Sound Designer Mick Potter, Lighting Designer Natasha Katz and Musical Director Nick Skilbeck.