Theatre Trip: Sister Act

 SISTER ACT

New Victoria Theatre - Woking

Date: 24 February 2023 (Friday), 7:30pm

Seats: Upper Circle H,  15-16

(Seen with Jess!)

Notes: We were off to a new theatre today! We have never been to Woking before, let alone for a show. Used to going to Wimbledon for touring shows, this one seemed to be only at Woking before the end of the tour so off we headed! Jess joined me for this one - leaving work as soon as it was over to drive the 2ish hours around the M25. Such dedication to shows! She arrived at my place around half 5 and we chatted for a bit before leaving and driving to Woking to arrive there at half 6. It turns out the theatre is in a whole shopping centre, but at that time on a Friday the only thing in the centre open was the cinema, the theatre and the McDonalds. So burgers it is!

I was very familiar with the original cast recording for this show but actually they seemed to have changed the plot a little, and the music quite a bit. One of the songs has the same melody but totally different words! I started getting a bit worried about some of my favourite songs being missing but they were still there intact. The plot of this show is the same as the film, I think? It's been a long time since I saw it if I'm honest.

The show as a whole was really fun! It was definitely a Friday night vibe and a Friday night crowd, everyone was really into it. Unfortunately there was one cast member that I didn't like. It was a real shame that it was Sandra Marvin, who was playing the lead role of Deloris. She wasn't out of tune or anything, but she just took too much liberty with the songs and notes which I found frustrating. It happened too much and too often for my liking but the rest of the crowd didn't seem to mind.

It was a shame because there were so many other performances I loved. Lesley Joseph played Mother Superior (I have seen her in Young Frankenstein previously and thought she was fabulous, and Sister Mary Robert - who sings my favourite song, 'The Life I Never Led' - had previously played Tracey Turnblad in Hairspray and absolutely killed this role! A few of the other nuns also were great; Sister Mary Lazarus (Anne Smith) and Sister Mary Patrick (Catherine Millsom) killed their smaller parts.

Honestly the real standouts in this show were the boys! They were all great, but the standouts were the trio of boy backups. They were hilarious and so in sync with the cheesiest dance moves which only made them even funnier! But Eddie Souther though. Clive Rowe is a bit of a British theatre legend, although after googling him I realised I've only ever seen him in a single episode of Doctor Who (and he doesn't sing in that). But he was so good in this! His vocals blew me away and his dance moves were great too. My favourite moment by far was during his big number he was revealed through a velcro quick change that he had a disco suit on under his police uniform... Except he also had another police uniform on under that and there was another velcro quick change which took us both completely by surprise! What a great twist.

Well, I would definitely head out to Woking again. It's definitely not London or Wimbledon, but it's only a half hour drive from home! Totally worth it.