Postcards From God
Encyclopedia
Postcards from God - The Sister Wendy Musical is a British musical
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...

 with songs, lyrics and book by Marcus Reeves
Marcus Reeves
Marcus Reeves is a London based songwriter and performer. He studied at Central St. Martins College of Art and Design before moving into music and theatre and is best known as the creator of Postcards from God - The Sister Wendy Musical.In 2007, The Peggy Ramsay Foundation gave Reeves an award to...

, based on the life and works of Sister Wendy Beckett
Wendy Beckett
Sister Wendy Beckett is a South African-born British art expert, consecrated virgin and contemplative hermit who became a celebrity during the 1990s, presenting a series of acclaimed art history documentaries for the BBC.-Biography:...

, the noted art critic
Art critic
An art critic is a person who specializes in evaluating art. Their written critiques, or reviews, are published in newspapers, magazines, books and on web sites...

 and nun
Nun
A nun is a woman who has taken vows committing her to live a spiritual life. She may be an ascetic who voluntarily chooses to leave mainstream society and live her life in prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent...

 of the order of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur
Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur
The Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, is the name of a Roman Catholic order of religious sisters, dedicated to providing education to the poor.The order was founded in Amiens in 1803, but the opposition of the local bishop to missions outside his diocese led to the moving of headquarters to then...

.

Postcards from God began as a series of cabaret performances at Battersea Arts Centre
Battersea Arts Centre
The Battersea Arts Centre is a performance space near Clapham Junction in Battersea, in the London Borough of Wandsworth that specialises in music and theatre productions.-History:...

 in 2004 and is the story of art expert and writer Sister Wendy Beckett (born February 25, 1930) who became somewhat of a media sensation in the nineties with her television documentaries Sister Wendy's Odyssey (1992), Sister Wendy's Grand Tour (1997), Sister Wendy's Story of Painting (1997), Sister Wendy's American Collection (2001) and Sister Wendy at the Norton Simon Museum (2001).

Productions

As of 2010, there have been two stage productions of Postcards from God - The Sister Wendy Musical.
Jermyn Street Theatre Production (2007)

The show's premiere took place at London's Jermyn Street Theatre
Jermyn Street Theatre
Jermyn Street Theatre is a performance venue situated in Jermyn Street, London.Formerly a restaurant, under the leadership of Howard Jameson, it was transformed into a 70-seat studio theatre right in the heart of London's West End...

 in January 2007. The cast consisted of Juliet Gough, Louise Hollamby, Andrea Miller and Catherine Millsom each playing a number of characters, with much-loved musical theatre actress Myra Sands starring in the title role.

The show was directed and choreographed by Omar F. Okai, with arrangements and musical direction by Tyrone Landau. The Okai Collier Company produced, in association with Mr. Theatre Ltd.

The script in this production was a collaboration between the show's creator Marcus Reeves
Marcus Reeves
Marcus Reeves is a London based songwriter and performer. He studied at Central St. Martins College of Art and Design before moving into music and theatre and is best known as the creator of Postcards from God - The Sister Wendy Musical.In 2007, The Peggy Ramsay Foundation gave Reeves an award to...

 and dramaturg Beccy Smith.
Hackney Empire Studio Production (2008)

In April of the following year, Okai Collier and Mr. Theatre presented a revised version of the show with a new book written by Marcus Reeves.

Gay Soper
Gay Soper
Gay Soper is an English actress.She is perhaps best known for her performance in the musical Godspell with David Essex, Julie Covington and Jeremy Irons as well as Mme. Thenardier on the Complete Symphonic Recording of Les Misérables. She also performed all the voices for The Flumps, a famous...

 took on the role of Sister Wendy Beckett, joined by an ensemble consisting of: Sophie Adams, Nicola Blackman, Hannah Everitt, Laura Sheppard, Colette Kelly, Gemma Maclean, Chris Polick, Louise Hollamby and Catherine Millsom (returning from the Jermyn Street production) alongside Marcus Reeves.

Direction and choreography were once again by Omar F. Okai, with musical direction from Tyrone Landau.

In a bid to rebrand the piece, the show was simply known as 'The Sister Wendy Musical'.

Critical reception

Marcus Reeves gave an interview with LGBT arts site Qulturelink in September 2008 and commented on the piece:


'The first outing of 'Postcards' was pretty unformed - it's been a very troubled birth for this little show, with two pretty disastrous productions so far - unfortunately the show risked being turned into more of a chamber pot musical than a chamber musical at times. Our press night at Jermyn Street was an unprecedented event for the venue - with all the well known critics (bar DeJongh) coming out to play - you could virtually hear their silent cackles of glee as the production creaked away in front of them.

The later production at the glorified broom cupboard that is Hackney Empire Studio had a new Sister Wendy and a little more bite. In that version and even more so in the newest (so far unseen) draft of the show, the character is certainly far more rounded - however, my aim with the piece has always been to let the audience decide what to make of this woman rather than bash them over the head with a judgment of her, so is she a selfless woman led astray, or an egotist who digs her own ditch and then falls in head first?'

Act One

In a leafy glade in Norfolk, a group of nuns sing in praise of their neighbour, Sister Wendy Beckett (Second To None). Appearing in her caravan, Sister Wendy introduces herself and the artists she loves (A Passion For Poussin). Sister Anna-Maria, a novice, arrives with the post, including a letter from Daniel, a TV producer, offering Sister Wendy help with a dilemma (Don’t Hide Your Light). Sister Wendy reveals that she has been asked by the BBC to present a TV series, but asks Sister Anna-Maria to keep the project a secret from their reverend mother. In Oxford, Daniel leaves his office in charge of his new temp, the garrulous and rather gauche Pammy, while back in Norfolk, an angry Mother Ruth confronts Sister Wendy about her deception. After Sister Wendy breaks down, Mother Ruth comforts her (Black And White), and concedes that the series could benefit all the sisters. She allows the plans to go ahead, on the condition that Sister Wendy takes care of her failing health. The next day, perplexed by the intricacies of art history, Pammy and Sister Anna-Maria ask Daniel and Sister Wendy to explain (Art Is Meant For Everyone). Daniel receives word that the filming can go ahead and Sister Wendy starts her odyssey around Britain by bringing a biblical tale to life (Salome and St. John). Despite the excitement of making the series, she returns to her life of seclusion, receiving a rare visit from her elderly and ailing cousin. The pair reminisce on their childhood, (Closer Than Sisters), before Daniel invites Sister Wendy to make another series, this time touring around Europe. In Florence, Sister Wendy comes face to face with a renaissance icon (Botticelli’s Birth Of Venus). Hearing that the BBC are set to syndicate Sister Wendy’s programmes across the world, Daniel treats her to a trip to Paris to celebrate. On a visit to a café, the pair are besieged by tourists and fans, determined to praise their favourite art nun superstar (Viva Sister Wendy!).

Act Two

Many months have passed when Sister Wendy is invited to appear on Comic Relief
Comic Relief
Comic Relief is an operating British charity, founded in 1985 by the comedy scriptwriter Richard Curtis and comedian Lenny Henry in response to famine in Ethiopia. The highlight of Comic Relief's appeal is Red Nose Day, a biennial telethon held in March, alternating with sister project Sport Relief...

, where she presents an irreverent take on a modern TV masterpiece (Sister Wendy’s Rap-ture). A few days later, she attends the launch for her new book at Dulwich Picture Gallery
Dulwich Picture Gallery
Dulwich Picture Gallery is an art gallery in Dulwich, South London. England's first purpose-built public art gallery, it was designed by Regency architect Sir John Soane and opened to the public in 1817. Soane arranged the exhibition spaces as a series of interlinked rooms illuminated naturally...

 and is harangued by the press (A Minor Celebrity). Sister Wendy is surprised by the arrival of her sister, Penelope, who has travelled from South Africa to see her. They share an awkward reunion with Penelope reflecting on the differences between them (Faded Dreams) before they part for the last time. Daniel gives Pammy a pair of pearl earrings and thanks her for inspiring his next and most ambitious venture to date, a trip to the USA, while Sister Wendy returns to obscurity once again, troubled by the news that her cousin is critically ill. Although she previously resolved not to make any more TV shows, she soon arrives in America and is met at the airport by her worst nightmare, a group of evangelical singing nuns (Simple Love). Daniel eventually rescues her and she starts filming, with a reflection on the perils of fame inspired by Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...

 and his Marilyns (The Campbell’s Can Soup-er Man). Later that week, Sister Wendy is a special guest of chat show hostess Sugar Hill (Catch A Star!), who finds she may have met her match after a war of words between the two women. Exhausted and longing to return to her solitary life, Sister Wendy prays (Porcelain) as she prepares to talk about Edward Hopper’s ‘icon of loneliness’ (Nighthawks). Some time later, Daniel is in his office, packing. Pammy arrives and he explains that the USA trip was brought to a premature end by Sister Wendy being taken gravely ill. Pammy gives him back her pearl earrings, accusing him of stealing her ideas and exploiting Sister Wendy for his own gain. Daniel calls Mother Ruth, who tells him that their previous arrangement has come to an end and they both consider their part in Sister Wendy’s rise and fall (Black And White – Reprise). A few days later, at the Ashmolean Museum
Ashmolean Museum
The Ashmolean Museum on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is the world's first university museum...

, Pammy starts work as a tour guide, convincing the public that anyone can understand art history, if only they learn to look (Art Is Meant For Everyone – Reprise). Back in the caravan, Sister Wendy wakes for the first time in weeks. Sister Anna-Maria leaves her bedside as she looks back on her travels one last time and bids the outside world farewell (Lit Up By The Wonder).

Concept Cast Recording

2010 sees the recording and online release of eighteen songs from the show, featuring a wealth of West End performers and new arrangements by Michael Roulston (Elegies for Punks and Raging Queens, Saucy Jack and the Space Vixens, Gutenberg! The Musical!) produced by Simon Wallace (Lindsay Kemp
Lindsay Kemp
Lindsay Kemp is a British dancer, actor, teacher, mime artist and choreographer.Born in South Shields on May 3, 1938, Kemp's father, a seaman, was lost at sea in 1940. According to Kemp, he danced from early childhood: "I'd dance on the kitchen table to entertain the neighbours. I mean, it was a...

, Absolutely Fabulous
Absolutely Fabulous
Absolutely Fabulous, also known as Ab Fab, is a British sitcom created by Jennifer Saunders, based on an original idea by her and Dawn French, and written by Saunders, who plays the leading character. It also stars Joanna Lumley and Julia Sawalha, along with June Whitfield and Jane Horrocks...

, French and Saunders
French and Saunders
French and Saunders is a British sketch comedy television show written by and starring comic duo Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders. It is also the name by which the performers are known on the occasions when they appear elsewhere as a double act....

).

The concept cast includes:

Gay Soper
Gay Soper
Gay Soper is an English actress.She is perhaps best known for her performance in the musical Godspell with David Essex, Julie Covington and Jeremy Irons as well as Mme. Thenardier on the Complete Symphonic Recording of Les Misérables. She also performed all the voices for The Flumps, a famous...

 (Godspell
Godspell
Godspell is a musical by Stephen Schwartz and John-Michael Tebelak. It opened off Broadway on May 17, 1971, and has played in various touring companies and revivals many times since, including a 2011 revival now playing on Broadway...

, Les Misérables
Les Misérables (musical)
Les Misérables , colloquially known as Les Mis or Les Miz , is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg, based on the novel of the same name by Victor Hugo....

, Sunday in the Park with George
Sunday in the Park with George
Sunday in the Park with George is a 1984 musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by James Lapine. The musical was inspired by the painting "A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte" by Georges Seurat...

) Nigel Richards
Nigel Richards
Nigel Richards may refer to:*Nigel Richards , English actor and singer*Nigel Richards New Zealand Scrabble player*Nigel Richards Anglo - Mauritian Social Scientist...

 (The Phantom of the Opera
The Phantom of the Opera (1986 musical)
The Phantom of the Opera is a musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on the French novel Le Fantôme de l'Opéra by Gaston Leroux.The music was composed by Lloyd Webber, and most lyrics were written by Charles Hart, with additional lyrics by Richard Stilgoe. Alan Jay Lerner was an early collaborator,...

, Floyd Collins
Floyd Collins (musical)
Floyd Collins is a musical based on the death of Floyd Collins near Cave City, Kentucky in the winter of 1925. The book is by Tina Landau, with music and lyrics by Adam Guettel and additional lyrics by Landau.-Productions:...

, Tom Waits
Tom Waits
Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...

's The Black Rider
The Black Rider
The Black Rider: The Casting of the Magic Bullets is a self-billed "musical fable" in the avant-garde tradition created through the collaboration of theatre director Robert Wilson, musician Tom Waits, and writer William S. Burroughs. Wilson was largely responsible for the design and direction....

), Valda Aviks (The Phantom of the Opera, Mary Poppins
Mary Poppins (musical)
Mary Poppins is a Walt Disney Theatrical musical based on the similarly titled series of children's books by P. L. Travers and the Disney 1964 film. The West End production opened in December 2004 and received two Olivier Awards, one for Best Actress in a Musical and the other for Best Theatre...

, Jerry Springer – The Opera), Judith Paris (Annie
Annie (musical)
Annie is a Broadway musical based upon the popular Harold Gray comic strip Little Orphan Annie, with music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin, and the book by Thomas Meehan. The original Broadway production opened in 1977 and ran for nearly six years with a blonde Annie as the poster...

, Oliver!
Oliver!
Oliver! is a British musical, with script, music and lyrics by Lionel Bart. The musical is based upon the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens....

, My Fair Lady
My Fair Lady
My Fair Lady is a musical based upon George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion and with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe...

), Olivier Award winner Leanne Jones
Leanne Jones
Leanne Jones is a British actress. She was born in Stoke on Trent and grew up in St Ives, Cambridgeshire, where she attended St Ivo School, before studying at the Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in Wood Green, in north London, graduating in 2006...

 (Hairspray
Hairspray (musical)
Hairspray is a musical with music by Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Scott Wittman and Shaiman and a book by Mark O'Donnell and Thomas Meehan, based on the 1988 John Waters film Hairspray. The songs include 1960s-style dance music and "downtown" rhythm and blues...

, Tick, Tick... Boom!
Tick, Tick... BOOM!
Tick, Tick... Boom! is a musical written by American composer Jonathan Larson, who won a Pulitzer and two Tony Awards for his musical Rent. Tick Tick Boom tells the story of an aspiring composer named Jon, who lives in New York City in 1990. Jon is worried he has made the wrong career choice to...

, The Naked Truth), Nathan Taylor (Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Hedwig and the Angry Inch (musical)
Hedwig and the Angry Inch is a rock musical about a fictional rock and roll band fronted by an East German transgender singer. The text is by John Cameron Mitchell, and the music and lyrics are by Stephen Trask. The musical premiered in 1998 and has been performed throughout the world in hundreds...

, Taboo
Taboo (musical)
Taboo is a stage musical with a book by Mark Davies , lyrics by Boy George, and music by George and Kevan Frost....

, The Rocky Horror Show
The Rocky Horror Show
The Rocky Horror Show is a long-running British horror comedy stage musical, which opened in London on 19 June 1973. It was written by Richard O'Brien, produced and directed by Jim Sharman. It came eighth in a BBC Radio 2 listener poll of the "Nation's Number One Essential Musicals"...

), Juliet Gough (Flashdance, Miss Saigon
Miss Saigon
Miss Saigon is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil, with lyrics by Boublil and Richard Maltby, Jr.. It is based on Giacomo Puccini's opera Madame Butterfly, and similarly tells the tragic tale of a doomed romance involving an Asian woman abandoned by her American lover...

, The Jungle Book) and Alice Redmond (Alice in Wonderland
Alice in Wonderland (musical)
Alice in Wonderland is a musical pantomime by Henry Saville Clark and Walter Slaughter and Aubrey Hopwood , based, with Lewis Carroll's permission, on his books Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass...

, Monkey: Journey to the West
Monkey: Journey to the West
Monkey: Journey to the West is a stage adaptation of the 16th Century Chinese novel Journey to the West, by Wu Cheng'en. It was conceived and created by the Chinese actor and director Chen Shi-zheng with the British musician Damon Albarn and British artist Jamie Hewlett.-Development:In 2004,...

, Tracy Beaker Gets Real).

Musical numbers

Act One
  • Second To None — Ensemble
  • A Passion For Poussin – Sister Wendy
  • Don't Hide Your Light – Daniel
  • Black And White – Mother Ruth
  • Art Is Meant For Everyone – Sister Wendy, Sister Anna-Maria, Daniel, Pammy
  • Salome And St. John – Sister Wendy, Salome, St. John
  • Closer Than Sisters – Young Wendy, Young Cuz, Sister Wendy, Cuz
  • Botticelli's Birth Of Venus – Sister Wendy, Venus, Flora, Chloris, Zephyr
  • Viva Sister Wendy! – Daniel, Ensemble


Act Two
  • Sister Wendy's Rap-ture – Sister Wendy, Dancers
  • A Minor Celebrity – Sister Wendy, Reporters
  • Faded Dreams – Penelope
  • Simple Love – The Singing Sisters
  • Catch A Star! – Sugar Hill
  • The Campbell's Can Soup-er Man – Sister Wendy, Andy Warhol, Marilyns
  • Porcelain – Sister Wendy
  • Nighthawks – Sister Wendy, Nighthawk Man, Nighthawk Woman
  • Black And White (Reprise) – Daniel
  • Art Is Meant For Everyone (Reprise) – Pammy
  • Lit Up By The Wonder – Sister Wendy, Ensemble


Characters

Listed in the order in which they appear.
Act One
  • Mother Ruth, Reverend Mother of a convent in rural Norfolk.
  • Sister Anna-Maria, A novice in Mother Ruth's order who is devoted to Sister Wendy and acts as her personal assistant.
  • Sister Imelda, A nun in Mother Ruth's order.
  • Sister Rosita, A nun in Mother Ruth's order.
  • Sister Claire, A nun in Mother Ruth's order.
  • Sister Wendy Beckett, Art historian and hermetic nun, living under the protection of Mother Ruth and her order.
  • Daniel, Independent TV Producer and head of Inspiring Films, Oxford.
  • Pammy, Daniel's temporary assistant at Inspiring Films.
  • Salome, The daughter of Herodias, featured in a painting by Guercino.
  • St. John, Saint John the baptist, featured in a painting by Guercino.
  • Juliet Morris
    Juliet Morris
    -Early life:Morris was educated at Lady Eleanor Holles School, an independent school for girls in Hampton in West London, where she recalled the difficulties of being left-handed. At the age of eleven, she moved to a convent when her family settled in Devon...

    A BBC TV presenter.
  • Cuz, Sister Wendy's cousin, also a nun (Sister Catherine).
  • Young Wendy, Sister Wendy as a child.
  • Young Cuz, Cuz as a child.
  • Mother Superior, The head of Young Wendy and Cuz's school.
  • Flora, Goddess of flowers and spring, featured in Botticelli's painting of the birth of Venus.
  • Zephyr, God of the West wind, featured in Botticelli's painting of the birth of Venus.
  • Venus, Goddess of beauty, featured emerging from the sea in Botticelli's painting.
  • Chloris, Zephyr's wife, featured in Botticelli's painting of the birth of Venus.
  • A French waitress
  • A street artist
  • Sheri, a brash American tourist.


Act Two
  • Fern Britton
    Fern Britton
    Fern Britton is an English television presenter, known as the former main co-presenter on the ITV magazine programme This Morning alongside Phillip Schofield. She left the show on 17 July 2009, her 52nd birthday.- Early life :...

    , A BBC TV presenter.
  • Backing dancers
  • Reporters
  • Penelope, Sister Wendy's sister from South Africa
  • Clive Anderson
    Clive Anderson
    Clive Anderson is a British former barrister, best known for being a comedy writer as well as a radio and television presenter in the United Kingdom...

    , A BBC Radio presenter.
  • The Singing Sisters of St. Michael, Maryland, A travelling group of singing nuns.
  • Marilyns Several incarnations of Marilyn Monroe
    Marilyn Monroe
    Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, singer, model and showgirl who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s....

    , as painted by Andy Warhol.
  • Andy Warhol
    Andy Warhol
    Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...

    , pop artist.
  • Floor Manager, part of Sugar Hill's TV crew.
  • Sugar Hill', presenter of 'Catch A Star!' a daily US celebrity gossip show.
  • Makeup Girl, part of Daniel's TV crew.
  • Nighthawk Woman, featured in Edward Hopper
    Edward Hopper
    Edward Hopper was a prominent American realist painter and printmaker. While most popularly known for his oil paintings, he was equally proficient as a watercolorist and printmaker in etching...

    's painting.
  • Nighthawk Man, featured in Edward Hopper's painting.
  • Tour guide, a tour guide working at the Ashmolean Museum
    Ashmolean Museum
    The Ashmolean Museum on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is the world's first university museum...

    .
  • Woman, a visitor to the Ashmolean Museum.
  • Man, a visitor to the Ashmolean Museum.
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