Tag: Hayley Bamford

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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.

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Nun better as Hayley Bamford takes on Deloris Van Cartier’s role in York Musical Theatre Company’s Sister Act The Musical

Hayley Bamford in rehearsal for the lead role of Deloris Van Cartier in York Musical Theatre Company’s Sister Act The Musical

First published on May 15 2025

YORK Musical Theatre Company will perform Sister Act The Musical at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, next Wednesday (21/5/2025) to Saturday under the direction of Kathryn Addison with Hayley Bamford in the sassy role of “novice nun” Deloris Van Cartier.

As you will recall from Emile Ardolino’s 1992 film, the story is centred on club singer Deloris, who  witnesses her partner, nightclub owner Curtis Jackson (Zander Fick), commit murder, forcing the police to hide her in a convent where she meets the Mother Superior (Kirstin Grififths) and an ensemble of 22 nuns. Cue multiple upbeat numbers as friendships grow and the convent is saved from financial ruin. Hallelujah!

“The company chose this show, and they did ask me for my thoughts,” says Kathryn of Alan Menken’s musical with its 1970s-inspired score. “I think it’s a super piece of theatre that’s even better than the film. It’s ideal for this company. It has everything in it you want in a musical.  

“There’s a real depth to it, beyond the music, with real emotion to Deloris’s story, but it’s also fun and the music is fabulous. The voices are phenomenal. It has a beautiful original score for a show that needs the right style vocally and physically to retain the essence of the movie’s jukebox musical hits.”

Deloris Von Cartier will forever be associated with Whoopi Goldberg’s tour-de-force movie performance and was played by Cleopatra girl group singer, I’d Do Anything  finalist and West End musical actress Cleopatra  Rey in York Stage Musicals’ York premiere at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre: a September 2014 production on which Kathryn worked.

Sister Act The Musical director Kathryn Addison

Explaining her choice of Hayley for the role, she says: “Hayley never stops. From  the moment she rocks up, it’s an absolute powerhouse performance.

“We had some amazing auditions for the part, and they all really delivered. I had no preconceived ideas about who should play Deloris, but I needed a special spark and that’s what Hayley brought to the room. That energy.

“It’s an instinct. You can’t necessarily say what it is, but there’s a combination of things that strike you. It’s about having the right style and being able to adapt to the demands of this part, understand what you have to do, and Hayley has done that.”

Singer, children’s party entertainer and Hay Jays Disco boss Hayley has long contemplated auditioning for Deloris. “I saw that production at the Opera House, and had considered doing the show with Ripon Operatic Society,” she says. “I thought, ‘I’d love to audition for it’, but the timing wasn’t right, but now it’s come about naturally for me to do it in York, as if it was meant to be.”

Hayley auditioned last autumn and began singing rehearsals in January, followed by floor rehearsals since March. “It’s been such good  fun to do,” she says. “It’s a dream come true. I’ve toyed with it for some time now, because I’ve had it in my mind that Deloris is played by a very famous black actress [Whoopi Goldberg].

Hayley Bamford, front, centre, with fellow cast members for York Musical Theatre Company’s production of Sister Act The Musical

“But when John [musical director John Atkin] said it wasn’t written specifically for a black actress, but was first offered to Bette Midler, then I could see Deloris as just a club singer where you have to put your own take on it.

 “Deloris is a woman with dreams, and she has her ups and downs as we all do, but it’s what she learns from her experience that’s important.”

Hayley has loved the challenge of playing Hayley. “I played Morticia in The Addams Family a few years ago, but it wasn’t as big a role as this. It’s been good for my brain. Teaching myself things again. Like Deloris, we all have dreams to fulfil to work in theatre.

“Luckily my voice is naturally quite a low voice, the Whoopi Goldberg level, so I can do the American  voice like that, but I think I’m camper than Whoopi – and you don’t want to be a copycat.”

Kathryn concludes: “What Hayley is very good at is being able to use her physicality in scenes, and it’s very definitely not like Whoopi! It’s Hayley’s interpretation; we get the whole character because she gets the movement right. Hayley is tall with long limbs and that brings individuality to her performance.”

York Musical Theatre Company in Sister Act The Musical, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, May 21 to 24, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond. Hutch’s List No. 20, from Gazette & Herald

Hayley Bamford in rehearsal for her lead role as Deloris Van Cartier in York Musical Theatre Company’s production of Sister Act The Musical

FROM Holmes & Watson to Wright & Grainger, a play told two contrasting ways to funny nun business, Charles Hutchinson fills diaries for arty times ahead.

Nun better musical of the week: York Musical Theatre Company in Sister Act The Musical, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, tonight to Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee

KATHRYN Addison directs York Musical Theatre Company in Alan Menken’s American musical with Hayley Bamford in the sassy role of “novice nun” Deloris Van Cartier.

When club singer Deloris witnesses nightclub owner Curtis Jackson (Zander Fick), commit murder, the police hide her in a convent, where she meets the Mother Superior (Kirstin Grififths) and an ensemble of 22 nuns. Cue multiple upbeat numbers as friendships grow and the convent is saved from financial ruin. Hallelujah!  Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Improv show of the week: Unwritten, The Literary Improv Show, Rise@Bluebird Bakery, Acomb Road, Acomb, York, tomorrow, doors 7.30pm, show 8.30pm

EVER wondered what Whose Line Is It Anyway? would be like with a literary twist? The Bluffs take classic short-form improv games, then infuse them with storytelling flair. Every show is unique, shaped by audience suggestions and spontaneous creativity. An evening of humour, surprises and plot twists awaits. Box office: bluebirdbakery.co.uk/rise. 

Dominic Goodwin, left, and Thomas Frere in Clap Trap Theatre’s Switcheroo, the play told as comedy and then seriously seriously

Role-swapping play of the week: Clap Trap Theatre in Switcheroo, York Theatre Royal Studio, tomorrow to Saturday, 7.45pm and 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Post-show discussion, Friday. Also Helmsley Arts Centre, May 31, 7.30pm  

TOM Needham’s play Switcheroo is based on the simple premise that “it’s not what you say, it’s the way that you say it”. Presented by Ryedale company Clap Trap Theatre, the story follows three siblings who, when it comes to scattering their mother’s ashes, are hit with a bombshell revelation that turns their world upside down.

The first act is a full-blown, larger-than-life comedy, whereupon the actors swap characters to repeat it as a serious drama. Paul Birch directs a cast of Thomas Frere (Alex/Sam), Clap Trap co-founder Cal Stockbridge (Sam/Pat) and Dominic Goodwin (Pat/Alex). Box office: York, 01904 623568 or yorktheratreroyal.co.uk; Helmsley, 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

The poster artwork for ACT’s production of Ken Ludwig’s Moriarty at Helmsley Arts Centre

Ryedale play of the week: ACT in Ken Ludwig’s Moriarty, Helmsley Arts Centre, tomorrow, 7pm

SHERLOCK Holmes and Dr Watson are back on the case as ACT (Ampleforth College Theatre) presents Ken Ludwig’s Moriarty, an investigation into the Bohemian king’s stolen letters that cascades into an international mystery filled with spies, blackmail and intrigue.

Faced with world peace at stake, Holmes and Watson join forces with American actress Irene Adler to take down cunning criminal mastermind Professor Moriarty and his network of devious henchmen. Box office: Helmsley, 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Paul Chowdhry: Heading for York Barbican with his Englandia show

Comedy gig of the week: Paul Chowdhry, Englandia, York Barbican, Friday, 7.30pm

PAUL Chowdhry, the most successful British Indian stand-up comedian in British history, heads to York on his 41-date itinerary. “After more than a quarter of a century and half my life on comedy stages, it’s time for my biggest tour ever,” says The Paul Chowdhry PudCast podcaster. 

“I hope to see you there. If not, I’ll be in massive debt and doing benefit gigs for the foreseeable future.” To help Chowdhry avoid that scenario, book tickets at yorkbarbican.co.uk.

The Dunwells: Returning to Pocklington on Friday

The boys done well: The Dunwells, All Saints Church, Pocklington, Friday, 7.30pm

LEEDS duo The Dunwells continue their working relationship with Hurricane Promotions’ James Duffy, who has promoted brothers Joe and David’s indie-folk/Americana band across Yorkshire, not least at the market town’s Platform Festival and Pocklington Arts Centre, where he worked for many years. Box office: thedunwells.com.

Alexander Flanagan Wright in Wright & Grainger’s Helios at Helmsley Arts Centre

Storytelling show of the week: Wright & Grainger present Helios, Helmsley Arts Centre, Friday, 7.30pm

A LAD lives halfway up an historic hill. A teenager is on a road trip to the city in a stolen car. A boy is driving a chariot, pulling the sun across the sky. Welcome to Wright & Grainger’s story of the son of the god of the sun that transplants the Ancient Greek tale into a modern-day myth wound around the winding roads of rural England and into the everyday living of a towering city.

“It’s a story about life, the invisible monuments we build into it, and the little things that leave big marks,” say friends since Easingwold schooldays Alexander Flanagan Wright and Phil Grainger. “Join us in a little room with a tape player and a delicate tale to tell.” Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

Jed Potts: Playing with The Hillman Hunters at the Milton Rooms, Malton

Blues gig of the week: Ryedale Blues Club presents Jed Potts & The Hillman Hunters, Milton Rooms, Malton, May 29,

EDINBURGH guitarist and vocalist Jed Potts fronts Jed Potts & The Hillman Hunters and Under-Volt and also plays with The Katet, The Blueswater, Nicole Smit and occasionally with American blues artist Brandon Santini too. This time he has The Hillman Hunters for company.

Potts first picked up a guitar at nine and performed his first gig at 16.”Blues is my musical first language and it infuses everything I play,” he says. “Even when I’m playing with The Katet or Thunkfish, the blues is always there. I don’t think I could hide it even if I wanted to.” Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.