Sister Act

Sister Act was a very good production from the society. There were some excellent performances from principal characters, and the choral numbers were very very well performed with lots of energy.

The show is set in seventies Philadelphia and follows the trials and tribulations of nightclub singer Doloris, played superbly by Maegan McTiffen, who sees her boyfriend gangster Curtis, also very well played by Dave Flitcroft, murder one of his cronies, on Christmas Eve. Doloris turns informer on Curtis, and for her own safety she is hidden away by old school pal and police officer Eddie Souther  (Sweaty Eddie) well played by Stuart Evans, in the Convent of the Queen of Angels, where she meets the Mother Superior, played very well by Ann Simpson, and the other nuns, much to her disgust. Doloris finds life in the convent very difficult, but is persuaded to start a choir, and the nuns, used to singing plain song, quickly get into the groove with Doloris’s rocking rehearsals., everyone that is except Mother Superior.

All the roles were well played, Curtis’s cronies, Jonathan Lucas, John Killen and  Grant Tebay, were convincing, and I particularly liked the comedy in their trio. Alistair Jones was good as Monsignor O’Hara, and the leading nuns, Tracy McOuat was excellent as Sister Mary Robert, she must have worked very hard, being responsible for the choreography as well, Laura Swinburne and Val Milling all played their parts well and the nuns chorus were excellent.

On a slight downside, and to be totally honest, I felt that the orchestra were rather too loud, and to compensate for that the personal mics on the principals had to turned up, which at times made the whole performance overpowering. I also felt that the scene changes were untidy at times, with the black tabs and the gauze changes. That said the cathedral scene was fantastic, and perhaps they could have used it more. Costumes were every good, and having had my little beef the good things in the show far and away outshone the not so good things.

Well done to Roger on an excellent production, I know how hard he worked, as did the whole company.I hope you enjoy the rest of your run and keep up the very good work.

 

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