Sister Act: The Musical – guns ‘n’ rosary beads and tons of catchy tunes

Sister Act: The Musical is a stage adaptation of the film of the same name – only with more modern attitude and plenty of catchy musical numbers. You could say it’s as camp as the original film was. And I know this without even having seen the original movie.

At the musical’s opening night, I chatted with Graeme Watson, editor of LGBTQI publication Out In Perth and was surprised to learn that he hadn’t seen the film either – and he grew up with parents who operated a video store!

Still, here we both were, seeing a song-and-dance production of a story about a nun who is not really a nun but someone on the run from a gangster that wants her dead. It’s got mock-mafioso stamped all over it, and elements of feminism from way back – that is, before feminism was a dirty woke word.

This musical is so camp, that I’m shocked I only spotted one drag queen in the entire production. Here was an opportunity to give dozens of gender-benders a chance to really let their non-binary flag fly. Alas, all the nuns in this show are played by women – and what a variety of women they are. Despite the characters having various vows that forbids them from sinning, they appear to break a heap of cardinal rules. They gossip, they think of decadent things. They say ‘Oh God’ a lot. And they sing. Very badly.

But that is until a genuinely talented singer named Deloris Van Cartier comes along – she who is on the run from the mafia. You see Deloris has witnessed a cold-blooded murder by her mafia boss boyfriend and he wants her gone for good. So she is whisked off to a nunnery, escorted by the local police and placed into a witness protection program of sorts or, at least, in inconspicuous guise. How more inconspicuous from a glitzed-up disco singer could you get than a nun?

Being of Catholic upbringing, I appreciated and laughed at many of the jokes this musical pokes at the western world’s number one religion. But then, I’ve always been one to enjoy shaking up the foundations of organised religion.

While Sister Act doesn’t do or say anything too radical via its playbook, it at least has a laugh over a once-too-sanctimonious religion.

Like I said, I didn’t see the original movie, so I’m not sure what Whoopie Goldberg was like in playing the part of Deloris character, but I do know that Australian performer Casey Donovan did a mighty fine job at entertaining, even enlightening, audiences on opening night. Donovan, her surrounding main cast and the ensemble together work wonders to prove that even in the stickiest of situations, a lively song or dance can always help put things right.

Donovan is flanked by two absolute pros of the musical stage: Genevieve Lemon (above) as her nemesis number one, Mother Superior, with just the perfect amount of sternness and a gravitas even in her most comical lines, and Rhonda Burchmore (below) as the convent’s choir conductor Sister Mary Lazarus – pretty much Deloris’ second key adversary. Burchmore brings a certain brilliance to her part, in fact you could say there’s a little injection of her classic ‘Witch’ from Into The Woods. Or should that read ‘bitch’? Either way, she does dominance and authority well.

The chief nuns do their darnedest to get Deloris out of their convent but the police insist it is the only safe space for her. To bide the time, she decides to improve on the nuns’ singing skills, even managing to score an audience with the Pope (too soon? Never with a musical). The result is a trove of raucous songs, mostly of a ’70s disco vibe, with a few ballads thrown in for good measure, all of which are enjoyable.

As I write this review, my partner Ben is singing Take Me To Heaven in the corridor. It’s the song that opens the show we’d just seen, and rounds of the first act in reprise form. It’s an earworm that has made its way into Ben’s head, and its one that’s stuck. And I think that’s the sign of a good piece of art.

Yes, then, Sister Act: The Musical is as artistic an endeavour as a musical can get; far less pantomime than most, and this probably has a lot to do with the three powerhouse female leads who are definitely running the show.

Amen, then.

Antonino Tati

‘Sister Act: The Musical’ is on at Crown Perth until May 25, 2025.

Tickets are available through crownperth.com.au.