SISTER ACT Comes to Birmingham Hippodrome, Now thru Oct 20

The hit musical comedy SISTER ACT, produced by Whoopi Goldberg and Stage Entertainment, is coming to Birmingham Hippodrome for a glorious limited season, raising the roof and getting the congregation dancing in the aisles for the final time as part of the current national tour from tonight, 9 – Saturday 20 October 2012.

The show, which played to over a million people at the London Palladium during its West End run and is currently a huge hit on Broadway, stars Coronation Street's Denise Black as Mother Superior and Brookside and The Royal favourite Michael Starke as Monsignor O'Hara, with rising new star Cynthia Erivo as the fabulous, Deloris Van Cartier.

When disco diva Deloris Van Cartier witnesses a murder, she is put in protective custody in the one place the cops are sure she won't be found - a convent! Disguised as a nun she quickly finds fans amongst her fellow 'sisters' but makes the wrong impression on the convent's strict Mother Superior. When she turns her attention to the convent's off-key choir, helping the nuns to find their true voices and breathing new life into the rundown neighbourhood, her cover could be blown for good. With the gang giving chase, is time running out for Deloris? Or have they underestimated the power of her new found Sisterhood?

SISTER ACT opened at the London Palladium in May 2009 to huge critical and audience acclaim. It went on to receive four Laurence Olivier Award nominations and its cast album shot to Number One on the iTunes soundtrack chart. During the London Palladium run the show broke Box Office records for the highest grossing single performance and highest grossing week for any musical ever at that venue. The New York production opened at the Broadway Theatre in April 2011 and was nominated for five Tony Awards at this year's ceremony, as well as receiving multiple nominations from every other major US theatre awards body. Record breaking productions are also running in Hamburg, Vienna and Milan, with future productions planned for Spain, France, Holland, South Korea, Japan and Brazil soon.

The original nun on the run and co-producer of the show, Whoopi Goldberg said: "We were thrilled to open Sister Act in London but I'm even more excited to have the show tour the UK so even more folks experience those singing nuns. It's a great show for everyone…your kids, your granny, even the neighbour next door who you might not like so much! I promise, you'll have a great night in the theatre. The Sisters are coming!"

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, with additional book material from Douglas Carter Beane.

SISTER ACT runs at Birmingham Hippodrome tonight, 9 – Saturday 20 October 2012. Performances run Mon-Sat evenings at 7.30pm, Wed matinees at 2pm, Sat matinees at 2.30pm. Tickets £19.50-£42.50, call 0844 338 5000 or select your own seat online at www.birminghamhippodrome.com (5 percent booking fee applies, calls cost from 5p per minute).

For more about the show, go to www.sisteractthemusical.com.

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