★★★★
The musical version of the hit 90s film, Sister Act, first materialised at the London Palladium 15 years ago. It was an immediate hit. It crossed the pond to Broadway, where some inexplicable changes were made, and has since toured the UK.
The huge announcement was made that Whoopi Goldberg, the film’s Deloris Van Cartier, wanted to do the show here in London – not playing the Mother Superior, as was assumed, but her original role of Deloris. However, the pandemic hit and by the time theatres were up and running a couple of years later, she was unable to commit.
The producers continued their plans regardless and the show opened triumphantly at Hammersmith in 2022, with Jennifer Saunders as Mother Superior and the powerhouse, Beverley Knight, as Deloris.
A tour followed and the show has now come full circle. It is back in the West End for a season, with Ruth Jones playing Mother Superior and Alexandra Burke taking over Deloris from Beverley Knight. (Indeed, it is actually worth mentioning that there is also a concurrent UK tour travelling the length and breadth of these fair isles).
A Riotous Plot
It’s always unfair to compare actors playing the same role. Both ladies raise the roof, although when Miss Knight lets rip, that roof is blown right up to the heavens. Both began their careers as singers and moved over to musical theatre when already fully established, and both have natural acting chops that lend themselves perfectly to the sass and comedy that the role demands. Miss Burke had a hard act to follow (even though she did play Deloris on the 2016 tour directed by Craig Revel Horwood), but she has grasped it with both hands and made it her own. It’s a huge and demanding role – when she is not on stage, she is most likely doing a costume change, but her energy never flags.
If you’re not familiar with the plot itself it’s 1978, and Deloris Van Cartier is a struggling singer in Philadelphia who witnesses her gangster boyfriend commit murder. The police must keep her safe until she can give evidence at his trial, so they hide her away in a convent, much to the dismay of the Mother Superior but the delight of the blissfully ignorant nuns. Going stir-crazy after one day, Deloris takes on the task of leading the nuns’ choir, who can’t sing a note between them. But wouldn’t you just know it, they become so good that they start getting TV and press attention, thus blowing her cover.
The Sister Act London Cast
The whole cast has enormous fun and plenty to do. All of the supporting roles are fully rounded and have moments to shine. Singer Lemar is suitably nasty as gangster Curtis, although not on stage that much sadly, and Lesley Joseph ramps up the camp factor as Sister Mary Lazarus, clearly revelling in her funky nun routine. Lee Mead has just taken over the role of the cop Steady Eddie (it was Sweaty Eddie at the Palladium, one of those baffling changes I referred to earlier). Eddie is a bit of a sap, someone who fancied Deloris when they were at school together but was the school laughingstock who was mocked mercilessly. Frankly, Lee Mead’s Eddie is too handsome and sweet, and it’s difficult to see how he wouldn’t have been the school heartthrob! He is a class act and a superb addition to the cast.
Another tweak from the Palladium is the characterization of Sister Mary Robert. She was so quiet and timid before, the nuns even called her Mouse as a nickname, but that has been watered down. She is still rather shy, but she quietly holds her own with the other nuns, and Lizzie Bea brings the house down when she comes out of her shell in the middle of the show-stopping Raise Your Voice, and then in act two with her spine-tingling The Life I Never Led. If the roof was back in place, it would certainly be blown off again at this point.
The Music
Alan Menken’s music is superb, and the lyrics by Glenn Slater are glorious. You can’t go wrong with rhymes like “Fill the church, pass the plate, everybody transubstantiate” from the wonderfully titled “Sunday Morning Fever” (don’t forget, this is set in 1978…), but having said that, “It’s Good to Be a Nun” is far inferior to the excised “How I Got The Calling.” Another one of the bewildering changes was when the show crossed the Atlantic.
But these are just minor, personal quibbles. Bill Buckhurst directs the show to within an inch of its life, and along with Morgan Large’s dazzling set and costume design, the camp factor is off the scale. Add Carl Mullaney’s scene-stealing Monsignor and the gayest altar boys this side of Old Compton Street, and you can’t help but leave the theatre with a spring in your step and the widest grin imaginable. A truly heavenly night which will make you want to fall to your knees and indeed, praise the Lord.
SISTER ACT at Dominion Theatre, London, until August 31st
For more information, visit sisteractthemusical.co.uk/london
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Imagery courtesy of Sister Act The Musical.