John Frost for Crossroads Live, Shake and Stir and Power Arts in Association with James Wilson. Festival Theatre. 26 Mar 2025
Would-be glitzy nightclub singer, Deloris, witness to her Philadelphia underworld boyfriend committing a murder, finds refuge amid the Sisters of Sorrow in a nunnery. Therein, she teaches the discordant nuns how to be happy singers. Adding comedy and romance to the plotline, there's a trio of clown villains and a cowardly policeman.
Thus does this big musical stage version of Sister Act follow the general outline of the famous Whoopi Goldberg movie and indeed, it has sustained a much-awarded history on Broadway and the West End.
In a sweet twist of American musical theatre irony, this show about Catholic nuns was based on a book written by a celebrated husband and wife writing partnership: Cheri and Bill Steinkeller, with music by Alan Menken; all three Jewish.
Very tried, tested, and delightfully untrue, the story comes to Adelaide with Australian Idol star Casey Donovan in the lead. Perchance, she is the first Australian First-Nations artiste to fill this world-famous role. She does so with the wildest Afro hair and the shortest bling cocktail frock in the business and one of the biggest voices ever to rock the stage. With treble on amps in the Festival Theatre, she truly knocks the socks off. And when the atonal nuns shrill forth in myriad vibrato high Cs, the audience is enveloped in a peerless auditory cocktail. Thank the powers of orchestral sanity that Deloris subdues her own over-singing to teach harmony and good old pop to those chaste nuns amid the iconography of Catholic Godliness.
The nuns are unleashed. Come on down song and dance and some utter slapstick silliness. This makes the second half of Sister Act much more fun than the first.
Indeed, it is almost like two shows for the price of one.
Donovan is every bit the concert diva in this show. She stands a world apart from the old-musicals headliners onstage around her. New school versus old school. Therein glows Genevieve Lemon who plays the Mother Superior. Lemon is consummate. She has presence. She’s a seasoned Australian star showing her cachet as a character actor. Then, there is the adored Rhonda Burchmore who affirms her showbiz class by taking on a role in the nun chorus. She’s Sister Mary Lazarus. This form of theatrical solidarity from a star of Burchmore’s standing engenders the admired theatrical label of “trouper”; a five-star trouper at that.
The nun chorus is, of course, excellent. It is a group of terrific singers and dancers clearly having a very good time onstage. One Gabriyel Thomas shines forth with particularly infectious joi de vivre in the chorus numbers. The trio of buffoon villains played by James Bell, Jordan Angelides, and Tom Struik, get some lovely moments in the sun with a couple of nicely choreographed routines: When I Find My Baby, and Lady in the Long Black Dress, which quite rightly bring the house down.
Genevieve Lemon is showstopper with the very perspicacious song, I Haven’t Got a Prayer, while, as the hapless Philly policeman with a cheesesteak in his pocket, Raphael Wong wins hearts and minds and laughs and, bless him, gives the audience a taste of his operatic prowess. He’s a character and voice that everyone can love.
Sophie Montague, Adam Murphy, Bianca Bruce, and Damien Bermingham are notable in character parts and Daniel Griffin’s orchestra does not miss a beat. Indeed, within Morgan Large's towering and versatile ecclesiastical set, it is all snazzy production values, whipped into snappy timing by director Bill Brockhurst.
It is all that one expects of the technical professionalism of a touring show under the John Frost banner.
Perchance it is cornball and lacking in memorable songs. But, by hell, it is something to do in Adelaide on a Thursday night. And, the frocks are fabulous.
Samela Harris
When: 26 Mar to 19 Apr
Where: Festival Theatre
Bookings: adelaidefestivalcentre.com.au
