REVIEW: York Musical Theatre Company in Sister Act, A Divine Musical Comedy, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York ****

Hayley Bamford’s Deloris Van Cartier, now hiding as Sister Mary Clarence, centre, in York Musical Theatre Company’s Sister Act, A Divine Musical Comedy. Picture Lucy Baines, Joy Photography

AFTER York Stage Musicals’ York premiere in 2014 and Coronation Street star Sue Cleaver’s Mother Superior and Landi Oshinowo’s Deloris Van Cartier on tour at the Grand Opera House in  2024, Sister Act, A Divine Musical Comedy returns to the city in Kathryn Addison’s hands in 2025.

You can see why companies are making a habit of staging Alan Menken’s Broadway and West End musical spin on Emile Ardolino’s 1992 movie. We know nuns en masse are fun from the film, so full of cheery daftness.

Then add Motown, funk, soul and disco pastiches and even a brief burst of rap by Little Shop Of Horrors’ maestro Menken, lyrics by Glenn Slater and a sassy book by Cheri and Bill Steinkellener, steeped in the original spirit and re-booted with theatrical camp sparkle.

Jack Hooper’s Eddie Souther performing I Could Be That Guy. Picture: Lucy Baines, Joy Photography

It has been the norm for the likes of Alexandra Burke at Leeds Grand Theatre and Cleopatra Rey for York Stage to whoop up the lead role of lounge singer Deloris in the Whoopi Goldberg manner, but the movie part was first offered to Bette Midler.

Step forward Hayley Bamford, and, wham-bam, Bamford still stands out from her fellow wimple wearers, on account of her height, her strut and her soul-filled lung power.

We lose the nods to Richard Roundtree movies, Pam Grier and Shaft, but Addison’s smart production still echoes the American Seventies of Studio 54, Saturday Night Fever and Telly Savalas’s Kojak (although the programme states Act I is set at Christmas 1997 in Philadelphia, New Jersey).

Director Kathryn Addison, right, in rehearsal with Kirsten Griffiths (Mother Superior), right, and Hayley Bamford (Deloris Van Cartier)

Bamford’s Deloris has been placed in protective custody by gun-shy, profusely sweaty cop Eddie Souther (Jack Hooper) after witnessing her cool but cruel mobster lover  Curtis Jackson (Zander Fick) commit murder.

She may sing Take Me To Heaven, but Curtis has taken her closer to hell. Now she must flee from the Mafia’s clutches into the safety and sanctity of the Queen Of Angels convent, whose stained glass frames double as the nightclub decor.

Bamford’s irrepressible Deloris kicks the habits into shape, transferring the sisters’ hapless, off-key singing from doleful into soulful and herself into a divine diva. In doing so, she impresses Monsignor O’Hara (Rob Davies); exasperates the earnest Mother Superior (Kirsten Griffiths, whose singing hits the spectacular heights); re-invigorates the rundown neighbourhood’s church services and coffers, and rekindles the flame in Eddie’s schooldays crush.

Philadelphia mobster Curtis Jackson (Zander Fick, second from left) and his hoodlums, Eddie (Jonathan Wells), TJ (James Dickinson), Pablo (Adam Gill) and Joey (Joe Marucci). Picture: Lucy Baines, Joy Photography

Addison directs with an eye to both individual expression and collective impact, bringing an irreverent edge to the comedy and fabulous flair and fun to the choreography, while musical director John Atkin’s11-strong orchestra are as soulful as James Brown’s band The J.B.’s.

Bamford is feisty, lippy, funny and a natural show leader; Hopper’s amusing Eddie pulls at the heart strings; Eve Clark, in her gap year after A-levels, announces her singing talent as Sister Mary Robert; Fick’s Curtis, with his cigarette-card moustache,  is a matine-idol villain, and Katie Melia, so “super excited to be playing Sister Mary Patrick”, is exactly that in her scene-stealing role.

Look out too for Sandy Nicholson’s Sister Mary Lazarus, rapping in shades, and the bungling badinage of Curtis’s hoodlums, Joe Marucci’s Joey, James Dickinson’s TJ, Adam Gill’s Pablo and Jonathan Wells’s soon-to-be-deadie Eddie. All’s well that ends up Wells, however, as he has three further cameos, topped by a camp flurry as a drag queen.

Sister Act, A Divine Musical Comedy, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, until Saturday, 7.30pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: limited availability on 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Nobody puts Baby in the corner at York Barbican as Dirty Dancing marks 35th year with concert screening on May 20

Dirty Dancing In Concert: The digitally remastered film, the songs, the singers, the band, the after-show party

THE Dirty Dancing In Concert world tour takes a leap into the arms of York Barbican on May 20 2022 as part of a 12-city British itinerary.

The live-to-film concert tour marks the 35th anniversary of Emile Ardolino’s 1987 American romantic drama dance film, starring Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Gray and written by Eleanor Bergstein.

Relive the timeless love story of Frances ‘Baby’ Houseman and dance instructor Johnny Castle at a Catskills resort’s summer camp as Lionsgate, GEA Live and Karl Sydow present Dirty Dancing on a full-size cinema screen with a band and singers performing the songs live on stage, in sync with the digitally remastered film.

Immediately after the screening, the band and singers will throw an encore party for the Barbican audience “that will surely take you back to the time of your life as you sing and dance along to your favourite Dirty Dancing songs”.

Jennifer Grey’s Frances ‘Baby’ Houseman and Patrick Swayze’s Johnny Castle in Dirty Dancing, framed by the musicians for the concert tour

Set in the summer of 1963, Dirty Dancing charts the blossoming of Grey’s ‘Baby’ Houseman while on holiday with her family at the beautiful, outwardly placid Catskills resort of Kellerman’s.

Intrigued by the staff’s rebellious dance instructor, Swayze’s Johnny Castle, and newly aware of the vastly different lifestyle of those around her, ‘Baby’ finds herself learning to dance while having the time of her life and falling in love.

The film soundtrack generated two multi-platinum albums and multiple singles, topped off by the Academy Award-winning best original song, (I’ve Had) The Time of My Life, while Dirty Dancing grossed $213million worldwide from a $4.5million budget.

Tickets for May 20’s 6.30pm show are on sale at yorkbarbican.co.uk. The 2022 Dirty Dancing In Concert tour also visits Sheffield City Hall on May 17 and Hull Bonus Arena on May 22; tickets at sheffieldcityhall.co.uk and bonusarenahull.com.  

To watch the trailer, head to: https://vimeo.com/648973936/0798d075f4