Sister Act The Musical

There was a buzz about the place as we entered the foyer to be greeted by the nuns. We settled into our seats and the show opened with Deloris played by Louise Marshall, and her backing singers Tina played by Sally McKimm, and Michelle played by Deborah Brown singing “Take Me to  Heaven” where she is auditioning in the nightclub owned by her gangster boyfriend Curtis played by Dominic McCavish. She unfortunately witnesses Curtis and his gang murder someone who they think is a police informant. She runs and tells the police what has happened, and here she recognises the cop on duty as Sweaty Eddie played by Craig Brown, someone she went to school with. From here she is put into a witness protection program and is sent to a convent.

These first few scenes slowly develop to tell us the tale of how Deloris is taken into this convent for her own protection. The Mother Superior played by Beryl Dixon gave a lovely performance, her character changing from very much being “in charge” to one who was won round by the beautiful singing of the choir. Curtis seemed to relish the role of the gang leader , and he was very well supported by TJ played by Tom Halfpenny, Joey played by Phil Bell and Pablo played by Mark Johnson. They all gave a very good performance of “bad boys”. I especially liked their “Lady in the Long Black Dress” number, it certainly went down a treat with the audience. Louise Marshall rose to the challenge of playing Deloris .Two words describe her “Fabulous Baby”. She was full of energy and had all the nuns singing, not to mention the audience. I especially liked Craig Browns portrayal of “Sweaty Eddie”. He had all the mannerisms off to a tee. I enjoyed his rendition of “I Could be that Guy”. The final of Act 1 sees Deloris, or as she is now known Sister Mary Clarence take up the role of teaching the choir how to sing, and gives us a taste of what is to come.

Special mention must go to Laura Thompson who played Sister Mary Robert, who definitely  showed a new outgoing side to the shy person she had shown earlier and was well supported by Sister Mary Patrick played by Rachel Dixon and Sister Mary Lazarus played by Pauline Barnes who completed the trio of nuns. Seamus Doran was very convincing as Monsignor O`Hara and Angus Bates, Wayne Buckley and Craig Mitchell brought a bit of light entertainment as the Fantasy Dancers and Neil Hastings as the Drag Queen.

All the chorus must be congratulated on all the hard work that they had obviously put in for this show. Once the Second Act got started it rolled along at such a fast pace gathering momentum on its way .The costumes in the finale were really spectacular.

Steve Carrick must be congratulated on another good show, Paul Blake waved his magic baton once again, he had the nuns on their toes, they really looked as though they were enjoying themselves. The choreography by Sally McKimm was excellent, I would just like to add that I thought that the stained glass windows were beautiful.

All in all a very good show, everyone going home singing “Take Me to Heaven” I`m sure.

The man of the moment must be Paul Blake who surprised everybody by appearing as the  “Pope” judging the final competition when the choir sings “Raise Your Voice” and they certainly did that. Well done and thank you .

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