She would hate us for saying it but Alison Steadman OBE is in danger of becoming a national treasure. Perhaps she already is one given her incredibly hard-working career that has spanned film, TV and stage.

Her long association, both personally and professionally, with Mike Leigh has given us a slate of beautifully judged – and often hilarious – film performances including Abigail’s Party, Life Is Sweet and Topsy Turvy. She won an Olivier award for The Rise and Fall of Little Voice and enjoyed recent success in Alan Bennett’s Enjoy! A long and successful TV career includes BAFTA nominations for Fat Friends and The Singing Detective, and a hit role in Gavin & Stacey.

As Madame Arcati, Coward’s scatty clairvoyant in Blithe Spirit, she promises to put in a memorable and hilarious performance.

The play, which comes to the Apollo Theatre in London from 2 March 2011, also stars Hermione Norris and Robert Bathurst and will be directed by Thea Sharrock (After The Dance).

Book tickets to Blithe Spirit at the Apollo Theatre in London

She starred in the original movie, she co-produced the West End show – and now Hollywood star Whoopi Goldberg will join the cast of SISTER ACT at the London Palladium.

It may only be for 23 performances, from 10 to 31 August 2010, but Whoopi will make her West End stage debut in the show that has proved a consistent winner for the star.

She won’t, however, be reprising her 1992 movie character Deloris van Cartier, the night club singer who is installed in a convent as part of a witness protection programme. Patina Miller will continue her successful run in that role, and Whoopi will take over from Sheila Hancock to play Mother Superior.

Whoopi ‘s film career includes winning an Oscar in1990 for her part in Ghost – a movie that is also set to be revived as a musical next year, directed by Matthew Warchus (La Bete, Deathtrap) and with a score by Dave Stewart and Glen Ballard.

The actress, singer-songwriter, political activist and talk show host is also well known for films The Color Purple, Jumpin’ Jack Flash, How Stella Got Her Groove Back and Soapdish, her comedy stand-up work and her appearance on US TV’s The View.

Book tickets to Sister Act at the London Palladium

British film star Ben Barnes has signed up for a stage adaptation of Sebastian Faulk’s acclaimed book Birdsong.

Running from 18 September at the Comedy Theatre, following current show La Bete, Birdsong is the harrowing First World War drama about one man’s journey through an all-consuming love affair and the brutality of the Great War.

The play will be directed by Trevor Nunn, following his current project directing Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Aspects of Love at the Menier Chocolate Factory.

Ben Barnes is best known for playing Prince Caspian in the Chronicles Of Narnia films, with the third instalment, The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader directed by Michael Apted, to be released at the end of the year. Barnes is an experienced stage performer having appeared in The History Boys, both at the National Theatre and in the West End, where he controversially pulled out of performances in order to take on the role of Prince Caspian in the Narnia films.

He has also appeared in Loving Ophelia at the Pleasance theatre, and other screen roles include Stardust, Bigga Than Ben and Dorian Gray.

Faulks’ novel, which has sold over two million copies in the UK, l has been adapted for the stage by Rachel Wagstaff.

THE STORY:

While staying as the guest of a factory owner in pre-First World War France, Stephen Wraysford (Ben Barnes) embarks on a passionate affair with Isabelle, the wife of his host, changing both their lives forever. A few years later Stephen finds himself back in the same part of France, but this time as a soldier at the Battle of the Somme, the bloodiest encounter in British military history. As his men die around him, Stephen turns to his enduring love for Isabelle for the strength to continue and to save something for future generations.

Book tickets to Birdsong at the Comedy Theatre

Simon Russell Beale has had a long and accomplished career as an actor, performing a range of roles on stage.

His first London appearance was in William Gaskill’s Royal Court production of Women Beware Women, currently playing at the National Theatre. He has had a long association with the National including his current role in London Assurance alongside Fiona Shaw, which will be broadcast live on 28 June in selected cinemas across the UK and around the world as part of  National Theatre Live. Other National Theatre roles include Major Barbara, Much Ado About Nothing, The Life of Galileo, The Alchemist, Jumpers, for which he was nominated for a 2004 Tony Award for Best Actor, Humble Boy, Hamlet, Battle Royal, Candide (2000 Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical), Summerfolk, Money, Othello, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and Volpone (1996 Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actor).

For the RSC, he has appeared in The Tempest, King Lear, Ghosts, the title roles in Richard III and Edward II, The Seagull, Troilus and Cressida, The Man of Mode and Restoration.

Other notable performances include Monty Python’s Spamalot, The Philanthropist, Uncle Vanya, Twelfth Night, Julius Caesar, Macbeth and The Duchess of Malfi.

In 2003 he was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List for his services to the Arts.

He will return to the West End from 29 August in Deathtrap at the Noel Coward Theatre, the 1978 Ira Levin thriller which was made into a film starring Michael Caine and Christopher Reeve. Russell Beale will play the Michael Caine character, Sydney Bruhl.

He stars alongside musical theatre and Glee heartthrob Jonathan Groff, Claire Skinner (Outnumbered) and Estelle Parsons.

The play is directed by Matthew Warchus, who won a Tony award last year for his production of God of Carnage, and will direct La Bete at the Comedy Theatre this summer starring Mark Rylance (Jerusalem), David Hyde Pierce and Joanna Lumley.

Book tickets to Deathtrap at the Noel Coward Theatre in London

Heartthrob Jonathan Groff, who plays Jesse St John in smash-hit US series Glee, has appeared in a number of Broadway shows including Spring Awakening and an early version of Hair, now playing at the Gielgud Theatre in London.

And now he’s set to make his London theatre debut at the Noel Coward theatre from 20 August in Deathtrap, the 1978 Ira Levin thriller which was made into a film starring Michael Caine and Christopher Reeve. Groff will play the Christopher Reeve character, Clifford.

The thriller sees good-looking young author Clifford turn up at celebrated playwright Sydney Bruhl’s Connecticut home with a brilliant new stage thriller, at a time with Bruhl’s career has hit the skids. Much ingenious plot twisting and comic brilliance ensues.

The play is directed by Matthew Warchus, who won a Tony award last year for his production of God of Carnage, and will direct La Bete at the Comedy Theatre this summer starring Mark Rylance (Jerusalem), David Hyde Pierce and Joanna Lumley.

Book tickets to Deathtrap at the Noel Coward Theatre in London

Hollywood star Jeff Goldblum is back in London, following his sell-out success in Speed-the-Plow at the Old Vic.

This time Kavin Spacey is making his first Old Vic venture in the West End, with an Old Vic-produced revival of Neil Simon’s comedy The Prisoner of Second Avenue at the Vaudeville Theatre from 30 June to 11 September.

In the show Goldblum stars as Mel Edison, a man at breaking point. In the heat of a New York City summer his air-conditioning has broken, his neighbours won’t shut-up, his job is hanging by a thread and there are a gang of burglars on the prowl.

The play is directed by Terry Johnson, flush from his Tony Award success for La Cage Aux Folles, and also stars Academy Award-winner Mercedes Ruehl.

Jeff Goldblum’s numerous film credits include The Fly, Jurassic Park, Independence Day and The Tall Guy. His Broadway credits include The Pillowman for which he won an Outer Critics’ Circle Award.

Book tickets to The Prisoner of Second Avenue at the Vaudeville Theatre in London.

In terms of star casting it doesn’t get much bigger than popping one of the Jonas Brothers in to your West End show.

Cameron Mackintosh once again proves he has a canny eye for stunt casting by tempting Nick Jonas over to London to appear as Marius in the London production of Les Miserables at the Queen’s Theatre this summer.

It may only be for three weeks, from 21 June, but it will do the show’s profile as much good as Susan Boyle AND its 25th anniversary rolled in to one.

Jonas will also join the cast of a special concert performance of Les Mis on Sunday 3 October at the O2 in London, featuring more than 300 actors and musicians, including Alfie Boe as Jean Valjean, Nick Jonas as Marius, Norm Lewis as Javert, Little Britain star Matt Lucas as Thenardier, Miss Saigon star Lea Salonga as Fantine, Jenny Galloway as Madame Thenardier, Camilla Kerslake as Cosette and the casts of the original production at the Queen’s Theatre, the UK touring production, including Gareth Gates, and members of the original 1985 London cast.

Nick Jonas is a member of globally successful boyband Jonas Brothers. 17 year old Nick is no stranger to performing on stage, having played the role of Gavroche in Les Miserables on Broadway in 2003. He has also appeared in a number of other Broadway shows from the age of 7 years old onwards, including A Christmas Carol, Annie Get Your Gun, Beauty and the Beast and The Sound of Music.

Nick and his brothers are currently performing a major series of concerts across the US. The Jonas Brothers, Kevin, Joe and Nick, released their first album, It’s About Time, in 2006, which spawned the TRL hit “Mandy”. Their next album, 2007’s Jonas Brothers, went platinum, as did their 2008 release A Little Bit Longer and 2009’s Lines, Vines and Trying Times. They found fame through the Disney Channel movie Camp Rock.

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Film and stage star Mercedes Ruehl will appear in the Old Vic in the West End’s new production of Neil Simon’s comedy The Prisoner of Second Avenue, at the Vaudeville Theatre from 30 June to 11 September.

In the show Ruehl stars as loyal wife Edna, who has to pick up the pieces when her husband, Mel, has a New York meltdown.

The play is directed by Terry Johnson, flush from his Tony Award success for La Cage Aux Folles, and also stars Hollywood’s Jeff Goldblum as Mel.

Mercedes Ruehl won an Oscar for her performance in The Fisher King and multiple awards including a Tony for her Broadway performance in Neil Simon’s Lost in Yonkers, alongside Old Vic Artistic Director Kevin Spacey.

Book tickets to The Prisoner of Second Avenue at the Vaudeville Theatre in London.

Mark Rylance

Life must feel pretty good for Mark Rylance.  Over a long and distinguished career he has moved with some grace and lots of eccentric style from accomplished actor, writer, director and artistic director to veritable national treasure.

His performance as Johnny “Rooster” Byron in Jez Butterworth’s Jerusalem has proved nothing short of a theatrical revelation, with audiences and critics queuing up to praise him and awards ceremonies falling over themselves to hand over their honours (Olivier, Evening Standard and Critics’ Circle awards included).

Now that his stint in Jerusalem has finished – at least until he takes it to Broadway in the Spring  – he is moving on to another small, low-profile project, this time starring alongside Frasier’s David Hyde Pierce and acting goddess Joanna Lumley in a glitering London and Broadway revival of David Hirson’s comedy La Bete.

Other recent acting success for Rylance includes Samuel Beckett’s Endgame at the Duchess Theatre and his Tony award-winning role in Boeing-Boeing in the West End and on Broadway. He was Artistic Director of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre for ten years and his work as an actor included the title roles in Henry V and Hamlet as well as Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra and Olivia in Twelfth Night.  Other work includes a number of RSC and the National Theatre productions as well as roles at the Donmar Warehouse and the Royal Court.  In the West End he played Benedict in Much Ado about Nothing directed by Matthew Warchus, for which he won the Olivier Award for Best Actor.  Film and TV work includes The Other Boleyn Girl, Prospero’s Books and The Government Inspector for which he won the BAFTA Best Actor Award for his role as David Kelly.

Ian Rickson, director of Jerusalem, said of Rylance that he is, “steeped in symbolism, imagination and ritual. There are very few actors who are able to be male and also have a poetic dimension.”

La Bete will be directed by Matthew Warchus and will preview from 26 June at the Comedy Theatre in the West End, playing until 4 September, and will then transfer to Broadway.

Book tickets to La Bete at the Comedy Theatre in London

Joanna Lumley

The London and Broadway revival of La Bete, Daid Hirson’s hilarious play, sees Joanna Lumley make a welcome return to the West End, playing the part of Princess Conti.

The cast also includes David Hyde Pierce, best known for playing Dr Niles Crane in the multi award-winning American sitcom Frasier, and recent Olivier award-winner Mark Rylance (Jerusalem).

Lumley is best known for her TV work, including Absolutely Fabulous, The Avengers and Sapphire and Steel. However, she has also had a long and successful stage career, with credits  including Private Lives, Noël and Gertie, Hedda Gabler, Blithe Spirit and An Ideal Husband.

American playwright David Hirson’s rollicking 1991 play, La Bete is a comic tour de force about Elomire (Pierce), a high-minded classical dramatist who loves only the theatre, and Valere (Rylance), a low-brow street clown who loves only himself. When the fickle princess (Lumley) decides she’s grown weary of Elomire’s royal theatre troupe, he and Valere are left fighting for survival as art squares off with ego in a literary showdown for the ages.

La Bete will be directed by Matthew Warchus and will preview from 26 June at the Comedy Theatre in the West End, playing until 4 September, and will then transfer to Broadway.

Book tickets to La Bete at the Comedy Theatre in London