Empire Theatre, Sunderland – 5th to 10th September 2016
Ambitious club singer Deloris Van Cartier (Alexandra Burke) sees her controlling gangster boyfriend Curtis (Aaron Lee Lambert) commit murder and former schoolmate ‘Sweaty’ Eddie Souther (Jon Robyn) arranges police protection. The book by Cheri and Bill Steinkellner follows the rough outline of Joseph Howard’s film starring Whoopi Goldberg. Somewhat incongruously, the safe house chosen by the cops is a convent, which gets shaken to its religious foundations by the heroine, in her new guise as Sister Mary Clarence. Appointed to supervise the tone-deaf choir, she turns them into a group of swinging sisters whose sudden fame imperils both her and their safety.
None of the songs from the film feature in the show, which is a shame. Alan Menkin supplies dutiful versions of the musical-theater standards: comic numbers for the club owner, Curtis and his henchmen; a romantic groove for Eddie and climactic soul-baring ballads for Deloris and the mother superior, and Sister Mary Robert too, in which each questions the tenets of her personal faith. But with the exception of a couple of those roof raisers, the songs in “Sister Act” are more serviceable than memorable
The show is billed as a star vehicle for Alexandra Burke but there are much brighter stars on the stage. Karen Mann as Mother Superior is amazing, especially in her “drunk” scene. Rosemary Ashe gives a masterclass in performance as Sister Mary Lazarus and Sarah Goggin is phenomenal as Sister Mary Robert.
Star of the show for me was Jon Robyns as Detective Eddie. He shows depth and warmth and real human heart in the role. His song “Sweaty Eddie” where he rips his clothes off from cop to Travolta back to cop was hilarious.
There are moments in the show which are very good, but this is a very average show being lifted up by some very outstanding performers
On tour around the UK