Thanks heavens for understudy of sassy nun (From Swindon Advertiser)

Thanks heavens for understudy of sassy nun

11:41am Friday 13th January 2012 in Reviews

HEAVEN’S above! If God was looking down on the opening night of this UK tour of Sister Act - the night when critics and VIP guests had been mustered to give their verdict on a much-anticipated show - He sure as hell was in a mischievous mood.

What’s the worst that can happen on the very night that cast and crew are going all out to impress the assembled press, the night that could make or break the planned nine-month run?

Well, your leading lady being taken ill in the interval has to be pretty much up there as disasters go, so I had to feel for the cast and crew of Sister Act when that very fate befell Cynthia Erivo, who was playing Deloris Van Cartier.

The 20-minute interval became an hour as, no doubt, a frantic scramble began backstage to get understudy Gemma Knight Jones ready for her unexpected moment in the spotlight.

But while she may have been a good six inches taller and a fair bit more rounded than Miss Erivo, to her credit the stand-in did a glorious job of covering for the stricken star and the show eventually went on with barely a blip - no thanks to Him.

You’ve probably seen the 1992 film version, starring Whoopi Goldberg as the nightclub singer on the run from her murderous lover who finds refuge in a convent and teaches the nuns to let loose and sing soul.

This show follows the same storyline but the musical numbers are different and arrive thick and fast, from the toe-tapping Take Me To Heaven to the hilarious Lady In The Long Black Dress.

The feelgood factor is so huge that I guarantee your jaw will ache by the end from grinning.

I mean, who wouldn’t laugh at the sight of an elderly nun in a blinged-up habit and baseball cap trying to rap?

There are some familiar faces from TV - Denise Black (Denise in Corrie) plays Mother Superior and Michael Starke (Sinbad in Brookside) is Monsignor O’Hara - but it’s the singing nuns that truly rock. This talented bunch of ladies transform from fussy sisters to funky sis-tahs with encouragement from the imposter in their midst, and wind up busting some impressive moves for the Pope by the end.

Praise be to shows like this for blowing away the January blues. And hallelujah for understudies.

- MICHELLE TOMPKINS