Sunday Service (Gingers) ★★★★★

Produced by Sydney Cabaret. Ginger’s at The Oxford. Sun 14 & 28 Jul, 2024.

I don’t believe in god but I do believe in Musical Theatre, and the new Sunday Service, run by Sister Sarah Murr and Sydney Cabaret is a revelation. Some of the most dynamic young lead performers from shows like Miss Saigon, & Juliet, Gentlemen Prefer Blonds, Zombies: The Musical and more, assembled like the Avengers of Sydney Musical Theatre, for a raucous night of tunes. This may not have been a promotional event for upcoming shows, but you’ll be rushing to book for In The Heights, Dear Evan Hansen, Well Behaved Women and more after hearing this group.

In what felt less like a performance, and more like a group of friends throwing on a show for fun, Murr steered the ship with cheeky banter and lashings of mutual adoration. Murr really is the glue that holds the night together. As one of the hardest working women in musical theatre (she just came off & Juliet, playing Juliet’s mother and covering both Anne Hathaway and Angelique) Murr’s personal connection to the other performers keeps the tone warm and friendly.

Kicking the night off with some Jesus Christ Superstar (proving she’d make a great Jesus), and a bit of Laura Murphy’s The Lovers (recording available for pre-save now), Murr set the tone. Next Olivia Vàsquez knocked out some Whitney Houston, before being joined by Zombies: The Musical stand out Ryan Gonzales for a teaser of their upcoming show, Lin Manuel Miranda’s breakout hit In The Heights. Gonzalez then took us back to the classics with “Somewhere That’s Green” from Little Shop of Horrors. Murr brought up fellow & Juliet alum (& upcoming Dear Evan Hansen cast member) Jacob Rozario for a riotous rendition of “Take Me or Leave Me” from Rent, before Rozario gave us “My Days” from the current Broadway show, The Notebook (nice to see some very modern shows in the mix).

Phantom of the Opera/Gentlemen Prefer Blondes star Georgina Hopson blew the house down with “Every Night at Seven” and “Out There” before Nigel Huckle, fresh from the Miss Saigon tour, threw in “What is it about Her?” from Andrew Lippa’s The Wild Party (ie. the good The Wild Party) and some Van Morrison. Upcoming Belvoir’s Well Behaved Women star Elenoa Rokobaro sung the classics, “Fever” and “At Last”, before Murr closed the night with the & Juliet / Celine Dion hit “That’s The Way it is”. But the evening didn’t really end till the entire cast returned for a full-throated rendition of the Glee superhit “Don’t Stop Believing” (bringing us back to the semi-religious theme)

From the queue of ticket holders waiting outside on the chilly pavement of Oxford St, and the excited energy of the room (filled with a number of A-Listers attending to support their cast mates), Sunday Service was a great night out and showed there’s an appetite for more cabaret in this city, plus it served as strong advertisement for some of the many upcoming shows in town.