The 1992 film Sister Act saw Whoopi Goldberg give one of her finest performances as a lounge singer seeking refuge in a convent. Now it’s time for Midlands-born Sandra Marvin to take on Whoopi’s character of Deloris in a new production of the hit stage musical version of the original movie. What’s On recently caught up with Sandra to find out more...

When actress & singer Sandra Marvin was growing up in Leicester, one of her favourite films was the 1992 smash-hit, Sister Act. Starring Whoopi Goldberg, it tells the story of singer Deloris Van Cartier, who, after witnessing a murder, is hidden for her own protection in a convent. Assigned the job of running the convent choir, Deloris soon has the nuns discovering a new meaning of the word soul.

“I absolutely love Sister Act the film,” says Sandra. “I used to watch it as a child with my family, and I was really that child who tried to do all of the nuns’ routines and sing along with the songs. Whoever came up with the idea for the story, it’s absolute genius, and Whoopi Goldberg was so funny in it. It’s always been a story which is close to my heart.”

When the film was adapted into a West End musical in 2009, Sandra was in the audience, where she was equally entranced by the show. So when she was offered the part of Deloris in the latest tour of Sister Act The Musical - which comes to Birmingham Hippodrome this month and then visits the Wolverhampton Grand and Stoke-on-Trent’s Regent Theatre next year - she jumped at the chance.

“Deloris is so much fun to play,” she says during a break in rehearsals. “She is 24/7 unapologetically herself, and that’s what some of the humour comes from. She maintains the essence of who she is, regardless of where she is or who she’s talking to. That’s such a powerful thing to have, especially as a woman nowadays, to hold your own, be true to yourself and not feel you have to change yourself in any situation. 

“I’ve been so lucky with the shows that I’ve been in and a lot of the roles I’ve played because I’ve walked away having learnt something from those characters. I think Deloris is quite an empowering character, while she’s also joyous and funny.”

Sandra has already clocked up an impressive range of top theatre roles, including Becky in Waitress, Mama Morton in Chicago, Queenie in Showboat, Motormouth Maybelle in Hairspray, Rose in Stepping Out and Camila Batmanghelidjh in Committee. Now she’s taking on Deloris, a role which, she says, asks a lot of a performer.

“The biggest challenge is the energy of her. She’s always on the front foot; she’s a hustler, always finding a way round things. Also in this show, she’s never off stage, so at the start of each performance, you know you’re in for that ride. But you enjoy it; the music is so wonderful - all that disco - how can you not enjoy it? You don’t have time to think beyond being Deloris.”

When Sister Act plays Birmingham Hippodrome, it will be a welcome return for Sandra, who toured to the theatre in 2010 and 2013 with Hairspray. She also made the city her home for seven years.

“I moved to Birmingham for work, and also because I already knew the city and loved it. I lived there in roughly the late 1990s/early 2000s - around Moseley, Bearwood and Bournville - and had an amazing time. I used to sing with quite a few local bands. I sang in a soul band called The Commandments, which was a Commitments tribute. I also fronted a rock band, and we used to do some of the local venues and conventions. 

“Birmingham has a brilliant live music scene. Every time I go back there, I’m really surprised at how much it has changed, but I always like to go back to old haunts.”
Sandra also played Wolverhampton’s Grand Theatre with Hairspray - where she picked up an unusual souvenir.

“I have a tattoo from the tattoo shop across the road from the Grand. Myself and Brian Conley went across there and got tattoos.” But when I ask what of, Sandra laughs and says “Now that would be telling!” 

Sandra has successfully carved out a career mixing theatre, television, film and music. She played head teacher Jessie Grant/Dingle in Emmerdale and Patricia Williams in Call The Midwife. She appeared in the film Florence Foster Jenkins and sung the title song on the Grammy-winning soundtrack for the film Gravity. She has also performed alongside a host of high-profile musicians, including Kate Bush, Liam Gallagher and Michael Ball, both live and on recordings. But for the next few months, she’ll be concentrating on Sister Act, in which she stars alongside Lesley Joseph, who plays the Mother Superior.

Sandra believes the musical has taken on an additional resonance following the Covid restrictions.

“It’s funny because this show was meant to have happened before lockdown, but along with a lot of other shows, it got put off. This story is literally about a lockdown, and it’s while she’s in the convent that Deloris learns what she really needs and what really makes her happy.

“She’s had this dream for the whole of her life, where her idea of success is to be famous like Donna Summer, but everything that happens while she’s in the convent makes her reassess what she really wants and needs in life. And she discovers the core of her life and happiness is from community and sisterhood. At the beginning, her ambition is all ‘me, me, me’, but it becomes about the nuns and giving them joy.

“I had so many conversations with friends about lockdown and how it made us reassess what really makes us happy. We started to look at our communities, our families and our friends and realised that that’s what makes our hearts happy. So post-pandemic, I think the show reflects this really well.”
So what would Sandra miss the most were she to be confined to a convent?

“It would be the music. I do have to say I have no idea what convents are really like -  they could be getting down to Aretha Franklin and P Diddy, for all I know! - but in the Deloris and Sister Act convent, the music is very different from what I would usually enjoy. And I’d miss my phone! You get so dependent on these things for keeping in touch with your friends. But I’d definitely be a disruptive element like Deloris - I’ve got her mischief.”

Sister Act The Musical shows at: Birmingham Hippodrome from Tues 4 to Sat 15 October; Wolverhampton Grand Theatre, Mon 5 to Sat 10 June; and Regent Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent, Mon 25 to Sat 30 September.

Feature by Diane Parkes