Sister Act

When it comes to putting on a show Teesside Musical Theatre Company certainly has a history of pulling out all the strings to deliver a first-class production, following on from last year’s performance award winning production of Shrek, their 2023 musical production of Sister Act showed every sign of been another hit for this Company. As always it is a pleasure to be invited to this Company to see their productions, their warm and friendly hospitality certainly shines through and from the minute I walked into the theatre, I was met by the Company’s President Mr Jonathan Winterschladen who made me feel extremely welcomed and I could feel the excitement from the audience as I was shown to my seat.

Sister Act, the musical is based on the 1992 film starring Whoopi Goldberg which tells the story of an aspiring night club singer Deloris Van Cartier, who, having witnessed her gangland boyfriend Curtis Jackson commit a murder, reports the crime to the helpful trustworthy police lieutenant, Eddie Southern (sweaty Eddie). To enable Eddie to protect her, Deloris is placed on a witness protection programme and is forced to take refuge from the mob in a convent. It is at the convent that she meets an array of charming nuns and to help her adjust she helps turn the choir into a soulful chorus to help save the convent. All was going well until the sudden celebrity of the choir puts her safety at risk and threatens to identify her hideout location.

The role of Deloris Van Cartier is central to the show, playing this lead role was the fabulous Helen Smurthwaite, the role of Deloris is rarely off the stage therefore you need a performer who has stamina, great comic timing and outstanding vocals and Helen has these qualities in abundance, for me she was perfect in this role. Helen delivered her musical numbers effortlessly and I loved her opening numbers “Take me to Heaven” and “Fabulous Baby” supported by her backing singers, Evie Donald, Hannah Smith, Abigail Beck and Jayne Holley and her version of “Sister Act” was absolutely terrific. Great acting ability and stage presence, delivering both the sassy side of the character and had the acting ability to balance this against Deloris’s vulnerable side, a totally outstanding and amazing performance, well done Helen. Playing the role of Eddie Southern (sweaty Eddie) was the talented Jake Mason, Jake delivered this character with ease demonstrating the many sides of the character, great chemistry between him and Deloris and I loved the deliverer of his musical numbers “I could be that Guy”. Playing the baddies were Mathew Clarke as Curtis Shank the gangster boyfriend of Deloris, excellent stage presence and looked thoroughly intimidating and ruthless, a very imposing performance and good delivery of his musical number “When I Find My Baby”. I loved the characters of Curtis’s gang played by Phil Green as Joey, Edward Cook-Smith as TJ and Finlay Buchanan as Pablo. There were some great comic scenes from these guys and the musical number “Lady in the Long Black Dress” was well choreographed and delivered, well done.

Mother Superior was played by the talented Katherine Reeve, and what an outstanding performance both in her character and vocally, excellent partnership with Deloris she was able to portray the right amount of incurable optimism and authority whist dealing with a situation which tested her boundaries and faith, her musical number “I Haven’t Got a Pray” was outstanding and moving and her musical number with the Nuns “Here within these Walls” was perfect. Great performance from Scott Ayling as Monsignor O’Hare great character role and certainly used his acting ability to bring out the mischievous character. Playing the role of the principal Nuns were Penny Collier as the postulant Sister Mary Robert, Penny captured the innocence and sincerity of this character and with the support of Deloris developed her confidence courage that she never thought she had, lovely vocals in her solo number “Life I Never Led”.  Sally Emmerson played the enthusiastic and excitable Sister Patrick, she also had the vocals to match her character, great performance, Alison Dale played the role of Sister Mary Lazarus to perfection, very dry and sharp and what a performance especially in her transformation into the rapper, which was hilarious, a very outstanding performer with years of experience to draw from. Anita Smith delivered a great performance as Sister Mary Martin of Tours who spends most of her time in her own world but has moments of clarity which were absolutely hilarious and finally Viv Winterschladen as Sister Mary Theresa the eldest of the nuns again fantastic performance and Viv certainly able to pack a punch in her confident stage presence especially in the scene with the gangsters.

The chorus of nuns are central and crucial to this show, and what a sisterhood was created by Teesside Theatre Company as they delivered their characters with enthusiasm and energy and they looked fantastic thanks to the outstanding costumes, I loved the transformation from the ear-piercing disarray of an unearthly sound into a heavenly chorus with some outstanding numbers delivered by the nuns including “Here Within These Walls”, Raise Your Voice” and “ Take Me To Heaven”, absolutely beautifully delivered.

Well done to the cast of nuns and cameo performers all of whom enable the success of the production congratulations to Abbie Whitehead as Sister Mary Whitehead, Sue White as Sister Mary White, Holly Scarlett-Carr as Sister Mary Scarlett-Carr, Liz Logan-Walsh as Sister Mary Logan- Walsh, Hannah Lambell as Sister Mary Lambell, Holly Hardcastle as Sister Mary Hardcastle, Adelle Almond as Sister Mary Almond, Emma Gooding as Sister Mary Gooding, Stephane Lightwing as Sister Mary Lightwing, Georgina Bailey as Sister Mary Bailey, Katie Shepherd as Sister Mary Shepherd, Lauren Wilson as Sister Mary Wilson, Angela Hare as Sister Mary Nickerless, Amy Randall as Sister Mary Poppins and Bar Patron, Norma Phillips as Sister Mary Celeste, Jacquie Kelly as Sister Mary Irene, Ian McKnockiter as Sister Mary McKnockiter, Terry Bytheway who plated the cop, pool payer, Cab driver, drag queen and Newscaster, Evie Donald as the hooker and Sister Mary Stephen, Hannah Smith as the waitress, Abigail Beck as Sister Mary Hare-Bush, Jayne Holley as Sister Mary Dominoes and Ernie, Alex Cook-Smith as Sister Mary Cook-Smith and Barman.

And finally, a massive congratulations to the production team, it was obvious to the audience the enormous amount of work that had been put into this production to enable us the audience to see a polished performance, the set looked fantastic, congratulations to the stage manager and technical staff, this is a massive production and you managed the scene changes with great provision and accuracy and I know the company did a lot of the artistry work themselves, lighting was great and certainly added and created the difference atmospheres throughout the story line.  Costumes looked stunning and certainly added visual colour throughout especially the nun’s costumes which were fabulous.

Well Done to Alison Dale for her creative flair as Director, Alison is never afraid to think creatively and think outside the box and her end product is always of a high standard and I love her commitment to amateur theatre. Congratulations to James Mitchel as Musical Director and Debbie Nicholson as Chorus Mistress, hard work certainly pays off and this was true in terms of the vocals and harmonies in Teesside Musical Theatre Company’s “Sister Act”, and finally Nic Jenkins as choreographer who delivered and created some fantastic routines with such a large cast, she created some beautiful movement especially in the final number “Raise Your voice” which was exceptional. 

This was certainly a fantastic feel-good production from the very stat of the production to the final bows every member of Teesside Musical Theatre Company should feel very proud of their contribution and I cant wait to see what your next production will be. Well done to everyone

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