THERE will be a distinctly soapy feel to Sister Act when it arrives in Woking this month.
Corrie star Denise Black is currently taking centre stage and she’ll be joined by Michael Starke, who played the scally Sinbad in Brookside and has since featured as Kenneth Hopkirk in the Sunday evening TV favourite The Royal.
Denise, who is probably best known as siren hairdresser Denise Osbourne in the Street, is currently taking on the role of Mother Superior in a two-week run of the divine musical Sister Act, while Michael plays Monsignor Howard.
This smash hit musical first opened at the London Palladium in 2009 where it went on to be seen by more than a million people, running for 18 months and achieving huge acclaim.
Sister Act The Musical has been nominated for four Olivier Awards and has won countless others including Broadway.com’s Best Musical.
Whoopi Goldberg, star of the original hit film and producer of the show, says: “We were thrilled to open Sister Act in London but I’m even more excited to have the show tour in the UK so even more folks get to experience those singing nuns.
“It’s a great show for everyone – your kids, your granny, even the neighbour next door who you might not like so much! I promise, you’ll have a great night at the theatre. Look out Great Britain – the sisters are coming!”
The musical tells the unlikely tale of disco diva Deloris Van Cartier who witnesses a murder and is then put in protective custody in the one place the cops are sure she won’t be found – a convent!
Disguised as a nun, she quickly finds fans among her fellow ‘sisters’ but makes the wrong impression on the convent’s strict mother superior.
When she turns her attention to the convent’s off-key choir, helping the nuns to find their true voices and breathing new life into the rundown neighbourhood, her cover could be blown for good.
With the gang giving chase, is time running out for Deloris? Or have they underestimated the power of her new found sisterhood?
Alongside Denise and Michael, the current production of Sister Act The Musical features rising new star Cynthia Erivo as nun-on-the-run Deloris.