CENTREFOLD / Visible vicar line: The million-selling Gregorian Monks Chorus has met its match

What is it about acting and the priesthood? Crosby, Sinatra, Quinn . . . Nimmo even: there is barely a star of a certain era who has not succumbed to the lure of the cloth.

Now, however, the sandals are on the other feet. Tomorrow night at the Barbican, 26 real Catholic priests will step out of their surplices and into the limelight for The Clergy Review.

In its eighth year, the more or less six-monthly show continues to prove that Variety, like Jesus, lives. Its ingredients? Family entertainment, with a big chorus, some self-deprecating humour, and - 'Though this may be tempting Providence,' says Tish Nichols, the director - a show-stopping final number.

Father Alan McLean, a Review regular with a parish in Bermondsey, explains the player-priest phenomenon: 'I suppose within us all there can be a frustrated performer, because, you need to perform a bit to bring the liturgy to life. The nerves are different, though, than when you do a service.

'People are usually most amazed because they see us as so serious. But I've never had anyone say, 'That was terrible, Father, you shouldn't have done that'.'

For his part, Father McLean dons a gold lame jacket and incites the (largely Catholic) audience to join in: 'I do songs like 'Underneath the Arches' and 'Somebody Stole My Girl'. It's quite ironic really, that last one.'

Other offerings promised include a Shadows-style musical act, and impersonations of Tom Jones, Frank Spencer and Julio Iglesias. Enough to prompt a cynical smile? For the unconverted, perhaps. Ticket sales tell the true story. The Review has a record of putting bums on seats that most parish priests would kill for. Tomorrow's show is, as ever, a sell-out.

The Clergy Review, in aid of Cafod, the Catholic Fund for Overseas Development, 7.30pm Sat at the Barbican EC1 (081-458 0557). Tickets pounds 10 and pounds 7, returns only

(Photograph omitted)