Sister Act

“Sister Act” is a musical  based on the hit 1992 film of the same name, which has music by Alan Menken, and lyrics by  Glenn Slater, from a book by Bill and Cheri Steinkellner with additional book material by  Douglas Carter Beane. The show was  premiered in Pasadena California in 2006, and the  West End production opened on June 2, 2009 at the  London Palladium. The plot follows a similar story line to that of the film, about a lounge singer called Deloris who witnesses a murder by her gangster boyfriend Curtis and is then hidden in a convent for her own safety. However, it does not include the original songs, but there are still plenty of great upbeat numbers, which were performed excellently by the talented large cast, who also produced some very good acting and plenty of comedy in this outstanding, full of life, dynamic production from “Pilkington Musical Theatre Company” where everyone appeared to be enjoying themselves immensely.

Emma Dears was strong and superb in the central role of Deloris Van Cartier, playing the part with confidence, exuberance and very good comic timing, her musical numbers were also performed brilliantly. Diane Glover was authoritative, yet comedic as the Mother Superior, but was also able to portray very well, the confusion and panic her character was feeling when everything appeared to be spiralling out of her control, Deloris’s old friend and police contact Eddie Souther was played with sensitively by Adrian Miles Roberts singing  and acting very well, giving a very enjoyable rendition of the song,  “I Could Be That Guy” and  Si Foster  was suitably devious and untrustworthy as Curtis,  Deloris’s dangerous gangster boyfriend who’s henchmen were played by Sam Caldwell as Joey , Kieran Maleedy as T.J. and Ben Engelen as Pablo, they worked together very well making a very good comedy threesome, their rendition of  “Lady in the Long Black Dress” was a big hit with the audience.  Lizzie Ryder was spot on with her character of the shy postulant Sister Mary Robert and Katie Speakman as Sister Mary Patrick, Jean Aspinall as Sister Mary Lazarus, and James Kirby as Monsignor O’Hara produced three very different good comedic characters. Other nice performances included Ann Connolly as Sister Mary Theresa, Jean Hughes as Sister Mary Martin of Tours, with Hannah Cowdall as Michelle and Laura Henderson as Tina, Deloris’s backing singers. The principle cast were well supported by the actors in the smaller cameo roles and the hard-working ensemble, all performed with lots of energy and gusto, they also produced some nice characterisations of their own. Diction and clarity of words along with accents were very good which meant the story could be followed easily, although there was some imbalance with the microphones in the first act of the performance. Choreography by Anna Whittle was dynamic, effective, was just right for the show and was very energetically executed by the cast. There was a very good experienced orchestra under the direction of Musical Director, Wayne Oakes, supporting the cast members well and ensuring they could give of their best. 

There was one main static church set and scenes were changed using furniture and props and along with sound lighting and excellent sometimes sparkly costumes made a very good platform for the cast to perform on. The backstage crew changed the scenes efficiently and silently, ensuring a very smooth running of the show, well done to all the back-stage crew.

Congratulations to Simon Foster and everyone involved in bringing this outstanding production to the stage, thank you for inviting us and making us so welcome, we had a very enjoyable evening.

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