Tag: Sister Act The Musical

Posted on

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.

Posted on

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.

Posted on

REVIEW: An Officer And A Gentleman The Musical, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday ****

Love lift us up where we belong: Georgia Lennon’s Paula Pokrifki and Luke Baker’s Zack Mayo

THE conversions keep coming. Hairspray. Shrek. Elf. Priscilla Queen Of The Desert. Billy Elliot. The Lion King. Legally Blonde. Heathers. The Bodyguard. Beetlejuice. Back To The Future.

Going back to find theatre’s future has become a well-worn path, one paved with gold for producers and venues alike as the conveyor belt from screen to stage musical threatens to turn into a traffic jam.

Already this year, the Grand Opera House has played host to the divinely sassy, soulful Sister Act The Musical and Pretty Woman The Musical, a cheesy, dated rom.com reboot with workmanlike Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance songs.

Back to the USA once more for An Officer And A Gentleman The Musical, a vastly more satisfying slice of American culture, driven by George Dyer’s superb orchestrations of Eighties’ pop bangers plus James Brown’s 1966 belter It’s A Man’s Man’s Man’s World (or This Is A Man’s Man’s Man’s World as it is re-named here for an assertive distaff rendition by the Port Townsend paper mill factory workers).

This Curve, Leicester touring production is stamped Made In Yorkshire as much as “product of the USA”. Director Nikolai Foster is a North Yorkshireman and lead actor Luke Baker was born in Leeds; both are on terrific form here.

As the press-night audience – dominated by women – settles into the dark, the voice of President Ronald Reagan evokes the 1982 setting from the off, making way for the roar of a jet as the new intake arrives at the United States Naval Aviation Training facility at Pensacola, Florida.

“This is not Top Gun,” said Baker in his interview. Indeed so. Not once will anyone be seen in a cockpit, the only sighting of a jet being the frame picked out in lights in the backdrop to Michael Taylor’s set.

Billed as a “timeless story of love, courage and redemption to make your heart soar and leave you breathless”, this show is an emotional rollercoaster rather than a thrill ride, darker too with its depiction of fatherly rejection, a mother’s suicide, factory ennui and mental turmoil, but yes, it is still romantic.

The 1982 screenwriter, Douglas Day Stewart, combines with Sharleen Cooper Cohen for a book that finds the ideal balance between male and female perspectives: the macho muscularity shielding vulnerability on one side; the bonding amid the monotonous hours for factory workers, such as Melanie Masson’s Esther Pokrifki and Wendi Harriott’s Aunt Bunny, on the other. In particular, the admirably singular focus of officer candidate Casey Segar (Olivia Foster-Browne).

Baker’s college graduate Zack Mayo arrives on his motorbike (the one engine we do hear), determined to make it through aviation school to elite jet training. He lost his mother at 12; his heavy-drinking navy dad (Tim Rogers’ Bryon Mayo) jettisoned any responsibility, but Zack has an outsider’s steely resolve to defy the odds. He clicks instantly with Esther’s daughter Paula  Pofrifki (Georgia Lennon),  a factory worker of Polish stock, determined to shake up her life.

In a parallel storyline, admiral’s son Sid Worley (Paul French) must deal with being burdened with his family name and his father’s unhidden preference for his late brother. Enter factory worker Lynette Pomeroy (Sinead Long in early Eighties’ Madonna’s wardrobe), ruthlessly looking for a good time.

Officer training runs in tandem with learning lessons in young love, the training in the charge of Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley (the outstanding Jamal Kane Crawford), a gravel-voiced, tough taskmaster with a waspish tongue to go with his physically and mentally exhausting regime. The bright lights of TJ’s bar and neon-lit motel bedrooms offer relief from navy discipline and navel gazing.

From Taylor’s metallic,  industrial set design and Eighties’ costume designs to Joanna Goodwin’s intense, hot choreography and Foster’s exhilarating direction to superb performances by Baker, Lennon, Crawford, French, Long and Foster-Browne, An Officer And A Gentleman hits the heights.

Backed by Christopher Duffy’s band, the vocal performances relish Dyer’s revelatory arrangements, whether opening with In The Navy Now, bringing new resonance to Kids In America or mirroring Madonna in pink in Material Girl. None betters French, Lennon and Baker’s take on Family Man, not even (Love Lift Us) Up Where We Belong.

An Officer And A Gentleman The Musical, Grand Opera House, York, 7.30pm tonight; 2.30pm, 7.30pm, Saturday. Box office: atgtickets.com/York

Posted on

REVIEW: Sister Act, A Divine Musical Comedy, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday ****

Heaven help us: Landi Oshinowo’s Deloris Van Cartier and Sue Cleaver’s Mother Superior seeking divine intervention in Sister Act

DELIGHTED to be back in the habit as Deloris Van Cartier, Landi Oshinowo “would like to thank her God and her church”, says her programme profile.

By comparison, lounge singer Deloris is uncomfortable at being given rosary beads by one of the sisters of Our Lady of Perpetual Sorrow in 1977 Philadelphia.

Oshinowo’s Deloris is more a lady of perpetual motion and commotion, a lippy livewire first seen in sparkling dress and very big hair belting out Take Me To Heaven. Instead, her volatile mobster lover, Curtis Jackson (Ian Gareth-Jones) is taking her closer to hell, denying her the big break she craves.

On witnessing him kill an informant, she must flee from the Mafia’s clutches and into the church’s safe refuge as the unconventional meets the convent, clashing from the off with the formidable, dry-witted, disapproving Mother Superior (Sue Cleaver, in a break from Coronation Street for her first stage role in 30 years).

Placed in protective custody by gun-shy cop Eddie Souther (Alfie Parker), Deloris kicks the habits into shape, transforming the sisters’ singing from off-key shambolic to soul and gospel bliss as she blossoms into a divine diva.

Impressing Monsignor O’Hara (Phillip Arran) rather more than the exasperated Mother Superior, Deloris re-invigorates the rundown neighbourhood’s church services and coffers and rekindles the flame in Eddie’s schooldays crush.

Sister Act, A Divine Musical Comedy, plays to the effervescent spirit, irreverence and delightful daftness of Emile Ardolino’s 1992 movie, now bolstered by the Motown and Philly soul, funk, disco and rap pastiches of Little Shop Of Horrors’ Alan Menken and sassy lyrics of Glenn Slater.

Sue Cleaver: First stage role in 30 years for Coronation Street stalwart as Mother Superior

The book by Cheri and Bill Steinkellener revels in camping up the camp and giving the sisters bags of personality, from Eloise Runnette’s putative rebel Sister Mary Robert (in The Life I Never Had) to Isabel Canning’s boulder of sunshine Sister Mark Patrick and Julie Stark’s rasping, rapping Sister Mary Lazarus.

Callum Martin’s Joey, Michalis Antoniou’s Pablo and understudy Harvey Ebbage’s TJ are comic stooges to the manner born, their bungling mobster act peaking with Lady In The Long Black Dress (with its nod to The Floaters’ 1977 hit Float On). Better still is Parker’s Eddie Souther, ever humorous as the protective cop who craves stepping out of the background to live his soul singer dreams.

Cleaver brings more down-to-earth humour to the Mother Superior than past performers while retaining her serenity and air of authority, while Oshinowo is a joy as Deloris, funky, funny and feisty, equally at home in the heavenly ballads, Seventies’ soul struts and retro dance numbers.

Bill Buckhurst’s bright and boisterous direction brings out the best in all the characterisation and comical situations. At every opportunity, Alistair David’s choreography celebrates the glorious, ever-funny sight of sisters abandoning themselves to the joy of dancing, and Tom Slade’s band is in full swing and in the mood throughout.

Morgan Large’s set and costume designs are living it as large as his name would suggest, glittering finale et al.  The American Seventies burst out of his sets for club and stained-glass convent alike, evoking Studio 54 and Saturday Night Fever, Pam Grier and Shaft.

In a nutshell, Sister Act is divine entertainment to take you to musical heaven.  

Sister Act, Grand Opera House, York, until Saturday, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm Saturday matinee. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Posted on

More Things To Do in York and beyond as the diary takes shape for May 4 onwards. Hutch’s List No. 19, from The Press, York

Sculptor Tony Cragg with his bronze work Outspan in the Great Hall at Castle Howard. Picture: Charlotte Graham

FROM landscape sculptures to community cinema screenings, a circus company’s novel assignment to a soap star’s heavenly musical role, Charles Hutchinson’s week ahead is taking shape.

Exhibition of the week: Tony Cragg at Castle Howard, near York, until September 22

SCULPTOR Tony Cragg presents the first major exhibition by a leading contemporary artist in the house and grounds of Castle Howard. On show are new and recent sculptures, many being presented on British soil for the first time, including large-scale works in bronze, stainless steel, aluminium and fibreglass.

Inside the house are works in bronze and wood, glass sculptures and works on paper in the Great Hall, Garden Hall, High South, Octagon and Colonnade. Tickets: castlehoward.co.uk.

The Lapins: Celebrating travel, exploration and adventure in music at the Unitarian Chapel, St Saviourgate, York

World premieres of the week: York Late Music, Unitarian Chapel, St Saviourgate, York, Mike Sluman, oboe, and Jenny Martins, piano, Saturday (4/5/2024), 1pm; The Lapins, Saturday (4/5/2024), 7.30pm

MIKEY Sluman highlights the range of the oboe family – oboe, oboe d’amore, cor anglais and bass oboe – in his lunchtime programme of Lutoslawski, Talbot-Howard and Poulenc works and world premieres of Desmond Clarke’s Five Exploded Pastorals and Nick Williams’s A Hundred Miles Down The Road (Le Tombeau de Fred).

The Lapins examine ideas of space, place and time in an evening programme that extols the joys of travel, exploration and adventure through the music of Brian Eno, Stockhausen and Erik Satie, the world premiere of James Else’s A Tapestry In Glass and the first complete performance of Hayley Jenkins’s Gyps Fulvus. Tickets: latemusic.org or on the door.

The poster for The Groves Community Cinema festival at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York

Film event of the week: The Groves Community Cinema, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, May 5 to May 11  

THE third Groves Community Cinema film festival promises a wide variety of films, from cult classics and music to drama and animated fun. Supported by Make It York and City of York Council, the event opens with Sunday’s Arnie Schwarzenegger double bill of The Terminator at 6.30pm and T2 Judgement Day at 8.45pm.

Monday follows up Marcel The Shell With Shoes at 2.30pm with Justine Triet’s legal drama Anatomy Of A Fall at 6.30pm; Tuesday offers Ian McKellen’s Hamlet at 7.30pm; Wednesday, Yorkshire Film Archives’ Social Cinema, 6.30pm, and Friday, cult classical musical Hedwig And The Angry Inch, 8pm. To finish, next Saturday serves up the animated Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse at 2.30pm and Jonathan Demme’s concert documentary Talking Heads: Stop Making Sense at 7.30pm. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Steve Cassidy: Performing with his band and friends at the JoRo

Nostalgic gig of the week: Steve Cassidy Band & Friends, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, Sunday (5/5/2024), 7.30pm

VETERAN York frontman Steve Cassidy leads his band in an evening of rock, country and ballads, old and new, with songs from the 1960s to 21st century favourites in their playlist.

Cassidy, a three-time winner of New Faces, has recorded with celebrated York composer John Barry and performed in the United States and many European countries. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Let us pray: Landi Oshinowo’s Deloris Van Cartier and Sue Cleaver’s Mother Superior in Sister Act, on tour at Grand Opera House, York

Musical of the week: Sister Act, Grand Opera House, York, May 6 to 11, 7.30pm plus 2.30pm, Wednesday and Saturday

SUE Cleaver takes holy orders in a break from Coronation Street to play the Mother Superior in Sister Act in her first stage role in three decades. Adding Alan Menken songs to the 1992 film’s storyline, the show testifies to the universal power of friendship, sisterhood and music in its humorous account of disco diva Deloris Van Cartier’s life taking a surprising turn when she witnesses a murder.

Placed in protective custody, in the disguise of a nun under the Mother Superior’s suspicious eye, Deloris (Landi Oshinowo) helps her fellow sisters find their voices as she unexpectedly rediscovers her own. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Lila Naruse’s Memory Tess in Ockham’s Razor’s circus theatre production of Tess at York Theatre Royal. Picture: Kie Cummings

“Bold new vision” of the week: Ockham’s Razor in Tess, York Theatre Royal, May 8 to 11, 7.30pm

CIRCUS theatre exponents Ockham’s Razor tackle a novel for the first time in a staging of Thomas Hardy’s  Tess Of The D’Urbervilles that combines artistic directors Charlotte Mooney and Alex Harvey’s adaptation of the original text with the physical language of circus and dance.

Exploring questions of privilege, class, consent, agency, female desire and sisterhood, Tess utilises seven performers, including Harona Kamen’s Narrator Tess and Lila Naruse’s Memory Tess, to re-tell the Victorian story of power, loss and endurance through a feminist lens. Box office: 01904 623568 or yorktheatreroyal.co.uk.

Jah Wobble & The Invaders Of The Heart: Night of dub, funk and world music at Pocklington Arts Centre

Funkiest gig of the week: Jah Wobble & The Invaders Of The Heart, Pocklington Arts Centre, May 9, 8pm

SUPREME bassist Jah Wobble’s two-hour show takes in material from his work with John Lydon in Public Image Ltd and collaborations with Brian Eno, Bjork, Sinead O’Connor, U2’s The Edge, Can’s Holger Czukay, Ministry’s Chris Connelly and Killing Joke’s Geordie Walker.

Born John Wardle in 1958, he was renamed by Sex Pistol Sid Vicious, who struggled to pronounce his name correctly. Wobble combines dub, funk and world music, especially Africa and the Middle East, in his songwriting. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

“Charming nonsense”: Steven Lee’s There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly at the SJT, Scarborough

Half-term show announcement of the week: There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, May 28, 2.30pm

FIRST written as a song in 1953, There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly was a chart-topping hit for singer and actor Burl Ives before being adapted into a best-selling book by Pam Adams a few years later, one still found in schools, nurseries and homes across the world.  

To mark the nursery rhyme’s 50th anniversary, children’s author Steven Lee has created a magical musical stage show for little ones to enjoy with their parents that combines the charming nonsense of the rhyme with his own “suitably silly twists”. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.

Posted on

Corrie’s Sue Cleaver returns to the stage after 30 years to play Mother Superior in Sister Act, on tour at Grand Opera House

“A chance to take on a role like this feels like heaven,” says Coronation Street star Sue Cleaver as she plays the Mother Superior in Sister Act

SUE Cleaver is taking the holy orders in a break from Coronation Street to play the Mother Superior in the 2024 tour of Sister Act in her first stage role in three decades.

Swapping the cobbles for the convent, the Rovers Return for rosary beads, after 23 years as Eileen Grimshaw in Corrie, she will play the Grand Opera House, York, from May 6 to 11.

‘‘I’m thrilled to be stepping into the habit and joining the incredible company of Sister Act on tour,” says Sue, 60. “It’s been over 30 years since I’ve been on stage, but theatre has always been my first love. A chance to take on a role like this feels like heaven.”

Based on Emile Ardolino’s 1992 American comedy film starring Whoopi Goldberg, Sister Act is a testament to the universal power of friendship, sisterhood and music in its story of Deloris Van Cartier, a disco diva whose life takes a surprising turn when she witnesses a murder.

Placed under protective custody, Deloris Van Cartier (Landi Oshinowo) is hidden in the one place she should not be found: a convent. Disguised as a nun and under the suspicious watch of Cleaver’s Mother Superior, Deloris helps her fellow sisters find their voices as she unexpectedly rediscovers her own in a joyous show replete with original music by Alan Menken and songs inspired by Motown, soul and disco.

Making a habit of it: Sue Cleaver’s Mother Superior in Sister Act

“I’m loving it,” says Sue of her stage return that opened in Brighton and has since taken her to Manchester, Cork, Belfast and Glasgow. “Theatre is where I started. I played lots of different reps [repertory theatres] early in my career, and then TV and film took over, but I’m very happy to be back.

“Just having a live audience there, the adrenaline and fear that goes with that, and getting a great response from them – that’s what most actors would say is why they do it. Actually, thinking about it, it’s adrenaline, rather than fear. Every night is different; every performance is different.”

Sue had never seen the musical. “I was going in blind, but I decided I wasn’t going to see other performers, as you want to create your own version,” she says. “Because of my [Coronation Street] schedule, I had only four and a half days’ rehearsal with the musical director and director [Bill Buckhurst] and two members of the cast, so I’m pretty proud of myself, going on after one run-through.

“It’s a big thing to take on in that short amount of time, but you get through that initial feeling of fear and just get on with it.”

Now eight weeks into the run, Sue has been comparing notes with Lesley Joseph, who preceded her in the Mother Superior’s role on tour before switching to playing Sister Mary Lazarus alongside Ruth Jones’s Mother Superior in the West End production at the Dominion Theatre. “We often do a WhatsApp catch-up in the interval in our habits!” she says.

Clash of worlds: Landi Oshinowo’s Deloris Van Cartier and Sue Cleaver’s Mother Superior in Sister Act

“I’ve not played a nun before, but the Mother Superior is just a great character. She’s a traditional, stern character who cares about the sisters and the convent, so it’s a clash of different worlds with Deloris as they navigate their way around each other and learn from each other. It’s a journey of discovery for both of them.”

Reflecting on diving into the deep end with Sister Act, Sue continues: “I feel it’s really important to take risks, to get out of your comfort zone. It’s why I said ‘yes, I’ll do it’. The timing was right for me, having concentrated very much on Corrie and bringing up my son, who’s now flown the nest. Hitting 60, this decade is about having fun!”

Fun to be had by all: “It’s just lovely to see audiences up on their feet and dancing. Right now, people are looking to go out and have a good time, and musicals provide that for all ages,” says Sue. “We all need that after the last few years. The world isn’t a great place at the minute, but if you can escape for a few hours of fun on stage, why not?”

Sue will be returning to the Coronation Street studios next month. “Eileen’s just popped off to see Thailand – it’s very useful to have a son in the show who’s gone off to the other side of the world!” she says. “I’m back in Corrie as soon as I finish this tour, going back to filming in June.”

Sister Act, Grand Opera House, York, May 6 to 11, 7.30pm plus 2pm, Wednesday and Saturday. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Copyright of The Press, York

Why did Sue Cleaver say ‘Yes’ to doing I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Here! in 2022?

Sue Cleaver: Spilling the beans on her time in the I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here! jungle in 2022, when she finished ninth

“I ALWAYS said ‘No, I’ll never do it’, and then I said, ‘why am I saying ‘No’?’. It was only fear – and that wasn’t a good enough answer.

“So I did it! It was very tough, but we had a good group of people, who are still in touch, making friends for life. You can’t do that kind of show without making deep connections.”

Editing versus reality?

“The viewer sees 19 minutes out of every 24 hours, and we have absolutely no say in how things are knitted together. None of us have watched it because it will be the edited version and all that entails.

“We know what our journey was. You couldn’t re-create it. We all lived it. I lost two stone; some of the lads lost three stone.”

Daily food rations in the jungle

“Three table spoons of beans, three table spoons of rice, and then you win everything else. You’re getting up at six in the morning and your food doesn’t fly in until eight at night, so you’re very tired at the end of the day, which is the aim of it.

“We were lucky that we were a very solid group: it was a world of grown-ups in there.”

Lessons learnt in the Aussie jungle?

“Well, I never went back to putting salt on food because I had way too much salt before. I don’t miss it. Now I’m completely off it. I don’t even put it on chips.

“I never want to eat wholegrain rice again either.

“I came back thinking, ‘I’ll never sleep in a jungle in a little camp bed again’, but as long I can take my own packed lunch I’d go back to sleeping in a camp bed.

“I’ve done my fair share of camping. Occasionally we have a camping trip from Corrie, though we’ve not done that yet this year.”

Posted on

Corrie star Sue Cleaver has a new habit…playing Mother Superior in Sister Act The Musical. When will 2024 tour visit York?

“A chance to take on a role like this feels like heaven,” says Sue Cleaver as she looks forward to playing Mother Superior in Sister Act The Musical in her return to the stage after more than three decades

CORONATION Street star Sue Cleaver will swap the cobbles for the convent, the Rovers Return for rosary beads, when she plays the Mother Superior in Sister Act The Musical on tour.

The British and Irish itinerary will take in the Grand Opera House, York, from May 6 to 11 next spring.

‘‘I’m thrilled to be stepping into the habit and joining the incredible company of Sister Act on tour,” says Sue, 60. “It’s been over 30 years since I’ve been on stage, but theatre has always been my first love. A chance to take on a role like this feels like heaven.”

She is best known for playing Eileen Grimshaw for 23 years in Corrie, her soap opera role bringing her the Favourite Female Soap Star gong at the TV Now Awards and Best Soap Actress in the TV Quick and TV Choice Awards, along with being nominated twice for Most Popular Actress at the National Television Awards.

Sue Cleaver: Coronation Street stalwart, I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here contestant, Loose Women guest panellist and soon-to-be Mother Superior in Sister Act The Musical

Her further television credits include City Central, Dinnerladies, This is Personal: The Hunt For The Yorkshire Ripper, Peak Practice, Casualty, Band Of Gold and A Touch Of Frost. In 2022, she appeared in the 22nd series of I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here!, finishing ninth.

Sue will join the Sister Act company in Brighton before playing Manchester, Cork, Belfast, Glasgow, York and Birmingham.

In the cast too will be Landi Oshinowo as Deloris Van Cartier, Alfie Parker as Eddie Souther and Ian Gareth-Jones as Curtis Jackson, alongside Isabel Canning, Julie Stark,Phillip Arran, Wendy-Lee Purdy, Callum Martin, Esme Laudat, Amber Kennedy, Joseph Connor, Ceris Hine, Eloise Runnette and Sheri Lineham. Further casting for the tour will be be announced.

Based on Emile Ardolino’s 1992 American comedy film starring Whoopi Goldberg, Sister Act is a testament to the universal power of friendship, sisterhood and music, built around the story of Deloris Van Cartier, a disco diva whose life takes a surprising turn when she witnesses a murder.

“I’m thrilled to be stepping into the habit and joining the incredible company of Sister Act on tour,” says Sue

Under protective custody, she is hidden in the one place she will not be found: a convent! Disguised as a nun and under the suspicious watch of Cleaver’s Mother Superior, Oshinowo’s Deloris helps her fellow sisters find their voices as she unexpectedly rediscovers her own. 

Sister Act The Musical is directed by Bill Buckhurst and choreographed Alistair David, with set and costume design by Morgan Large, lighting design by Tim Mitchell, sound design by Tom Marshall and musical supervision by Stephen Brooker.

Produced by Jamie Wilson and Whoopi Goldberg, the show features original music by Tony and eight-time Oscar  winner Alan Menken (Disney’s Aladdin, Enchanted), lyrics by Glenn Slater and book by Bill and Cheri Steinkellner, with additional book material by Douglas Carter Beane. 

Tickets for the York nun run are on sale at atgtickets.com/york.