Sister Act

Perhaps best known as the 1992 film starring Whoopi Goldberg, ‘Sister Act’ adapted very well to the stage. It had a regional opening in Pasadena California in 2006 and ran for just two months. It then opened at The London Palladium in June 2009 before an 18 month run on Broadway in 2012. It was nominated for both the Olivier and Tony Awards. Although a Junior version of the show is available, Kirkcaldy Youth Music Theatre chose to perform the adult version of the show and did it extreme justice!

Emma Paterson was dazzling as Deloris Van Cartier. Her acting and diction were first class and she was full of energy. She was the epitome of a brassy nightclub singer and yet when amongst the Sisters, without losing any of her vitality, she was loving and gentle.

Calypso Barclay was just lovely in the role of Sister Mary Robert, the novitiate in the Convent. She gave a powerful performance as the reticent postulant but then blossomed into a bold character whose strong singing belied her timid image.  Poppy Quigley gave a first class performance as Sister Mary Patrick and Aimee Busher had great fun with the part of Sister Mary Lazarus – a great character to play and she did it very well. These three young ladies were all strong in portraying their differing roles.

Joseph Paton played Monsignor O’Hara. With his calm, soothing Irish accent hiding a fearsome wit, Joseph played this role to perfection.

Sister Mary Martin-of-Tours was played by Amber Fenelon. Often falling asleep on the other nuns and then bursting to life to shout random scripture. Amber played this role to its fullest extent creating some wonderful little comic moments.

Sophie Fenelon was superb as the Mother Superior; she has comedy moments, struggles with her faith and what’s right and wrong, and she is against all the changes Deloris tries to bring into the choir in the Convent

Ruby Boyd played the oldest member of the cast, Sister Mary Theresa. Ruby pottered on with her walking stick and had some great well timed one liners, before bursting to life and making the audience chuckle non-stop.

Curtis (Euan Brown), the baddie, was played with confidence, and, together with his three “hopeless” henchmen,  TJ (Ewan Maguire), Joey (Mylo Richardson) and Pablo (Alex Tanco) chased Deloris here, there and everywhere without success.

Eddie, the Police Officer (Emile Hastie) with a crush on Deloris gave a solid performance and his good singing voice covered a wide range in “I Could Be That Guy”.

Singing to backing tracks is never easy, but with the fine tutelage of Alan Urquhart in rehearsal, musically the show came up to the mark!

Direction by John Urquhart was understanding and thoughtful, never giving in to the youth members because of their age. Rather, treating them as adult performers right from the start.

One adult made a guest appearance in the show as Pope Davidson (Ian Davidson).  Renowned in the area for his cameo roles, Ian added another one to his repertoire!

Many thanks for inviting us to another excellent KYMT show!

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