Sister Act

When lively lounge singer Deloris Van Cartier sees her mobster beau, Curtis commit murder, she is relocated for her protection. Set up in the guise of a nun in a Philadelphia convent, Deloris proceeds to upend the quiet lives of the resident sisters. In an effort to keep her out of trouble, the Mother Superior assigns her, to the convent choir, an ensemble that she soon turns into a vibrant and soulful act that gains widespread attention.

The Town Hall was transformed to a night cub atmosphere with a mirror ball setting the scene for the entrance of Donna Reilly as Deloris and her backup singers Kai O’Connor as Michelle and Rhiona Sidley as Tina bringing the moves to the strong vocal opening of ‘Take Me to Heaven’ and ‘Fabulous Baby’ and setting the pace for the rest of the show. 

This was an excellent character portrayal of Deloris with sensitivity to all the the complexities that comes with the character, combined with a voice to do the songs the justice they required Donna Reilly delivered an outstanding performance in this her first appearance with Alyth. 

Curtis played by Andrew Beckett resplendent in a red suit was your typical gangster boyfriend ably supported by his three sidekicks in James Dobie giving a forcible performance as Joey, Drew Knox providing the right level of style and humour as TJ and the Spanish swagger of Pablo handled by Darren Gill. I enjoyed their song “Lady in The Long Black Dress” with them playing to the audience and clever choreography.

John Robinson as Eddie gave a memorable performance, I loved  “I Could Be That Guy”. He was very believable, with great comic timing where needed and a great singing voice.

Mother Superior was excellently played by Isabel McCurdy, again she was able to get every ounce of passion from this part to make it believable. Here "Within These Walls" was breathtaking and loved by every member of the audience, Donna and Isabel had a great onstage presence together all the way through the show.

Sister Act requires an array of talent to make this show really work and here Alyth had a strong cast with all the unique qualities of the characters played with precision. Claire Mallinson transformed into every bit the hyper Sister Mary Patrick demonstrating her acting talents and exercising superb vocals. Claire Rioch was excellent as Sister Mary Lazarus, the character, her tone of voice and nailed the part with just the right amount of attitude and comedy. Steph Mackie delivered a magnificent rendition of "The Life I Never Led" and was wholly convincing as the unsure and nervous Sister Mary Roberts.

Also delivering sterling performances were Glenda Kean as Sister Mary Theresa and Valerie Anderson as Sister Mary Martin of Tours staying in their characters throughout with some very funny moments. 

Monsignor O’Hara played by David Mitchell complete with Irish American accent gave a solid performance and praise must go to all the nuns who sounded fabulous together each putting in their own characters, energy, all perfectly balanced. The whole convent and theatre came alive in and I thoroughly enjoyed ‘It’s Good to be a Nun’, ‘Raise Your Voice’ and ‘Take Me to Heaven’ and it was hard to not get on my feet and embrace the joy of the cast on stage.

Everyone looked like they were having a ball and determined to bring the audience into their world.

Congratulations must be paid to Ewan Campbell for the direction. This show also had an orchestra under the direction of Musical Director Billy Muir who led them expertly but also was able to get the very best out of the whole cast to produce an amazing show. Praise must also go to Jenni Main as the Choreographer of this show, with inkeeping, big and inventive numbers given the limited stage footprint.

Thank you for the Invite. A huge well done Alyth Musical Society, it was Fabulous!

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