Sister Act

  So you do not have a Whoopi Goldberg....! No worries...step forward Lauren Nevill (nee Major) as Deloris van Cartier to take over the mantle and put in all the necessary energy, humour and vocals to captivate the audiences who have come to expect top quality from The Players. Her strong vocals featured in at least ten of the toe tapping Motown influenced numbers and she worked her socks off to make the role one for which she will undoubtedly be remembered and acknowledged, and there have already been a few other successes for this talented young lady! A magnificent job... she deserved all the accolades. However this was far from being a one person show. We had Judi Mars returning to a major principal role as Mother Superior and really showing her range of vocal skills and sensitive handling of a difficult but crucial role, none more so than her rendition of  the songs ‘Here Within these Walls’ and ‘I Haven’t Got A Prayer’ which also showed a nice added touch of humour! The law and order was particularly well upheld by Officer Eddie Souther (Stephen Clarke) who saddled with the nick name ‘Sweaty Eddy’ gave a classy well interpreted version of the all American Cop with a bit of history and of course a long standing crush on Deloris. His solo ‘I Could Be That Guy’ was a real highlight, showing the quality of his interpretive singing. His dramatic life saving intervention and self affirming rekindling of his macho self, brought gasps from the audience and some moments of jealousy from the male audience! His criminal adversaries were led by Curtis Jackson (Jimmy Atkin) who clearly revelled in his ‘baddy’ persona and indeed drew panto style  boos from the audience! Well he was nasty and ‘took no prisoners’ as he searched for the witness to his murder of  poor old unsuspecting Ernie (Simon Warren) who at least was able to rejoin the ranks of the ensemble. Assisting Curtis in his well presented solo number ‘When I Find My Baby’,  was a motley trio of  disparate gangsters: The confident with the ladies...Joey (Dave Evans), slightly ‘dim’ TJ (Ian Carter), and the Spanish el Toro, Pablo (Tom Holt) with some excellent accented Spanish phrases to add to his menace! This trio delivered well balanced humour with style and some synchronised movement together with excellent harmony singing, also needing split second timing as they met their demise at the hands of the ‘Sisters’...

  Now here we had the real stars of the show; even Gareth Malone would be proud!  The Nun’s Chorus was not just harmonious but a most accomplished loyal band of Sisters that you could possibly find, their every move immaculately choreographed and carried out with the synchronicity born of team working with dedication to achieve the highest level of performance...a  Player’s strength in many of their shows, but  this was special! They looked good and really added the Joie de Vivre, as Deloris put it! As a bonus and adding a nice touch of humour to the proceedings we had the young postulant, Sister Mary Robert (Issy Anderson) with a wonderful solo ‘The Life I Never Lived’, and her compatriot Sister Mary Patrick (Beth Lewis) adding an infectious enthusiasm at every opportunity; not so well received by the grumpy older Sister Mary Lazarus (Deanne Dickson) with some great one liners and a prejudiced eye on change, but tinged with a rye sense of humour as she warmed to the inevitable! This trio were a joy to observe throughout and provided just the right foil to Doloris allowing her to feed off their interventions. They all deserve the standing ovation the show has received every night! The Sisters were encouraged and galvanised by the unlikely ecclesiastical impresario Monsignor O’Hara (Stephen Wilson), with an eye for the bright lights and an unerring belief that the “ two bachelors... dealing in antiques” would come up with the dosh!

 Great costumes and spectacular settings with effects to match, especially for the convent scenes, made this a  production that will live long in the memory! The tense, poignant, ending to the action brought a tear to the eye, and the stunning finale, with no expense spared, was the icing on the cake! Cue rapturous applause, and standing ovations every night!

 I end with a few words overheard from audiences as they leave: ‘Brilliant’, ‘Fantastic’, ‘How do they do it!’, ‘Best show I have seen this year’ (regular theatre goer!), ‘Spectacular’, ‘I thought they must have hired some professionals for this show!’, ‘I cannot believe how good it was’, ‘My first visit and I was blown away!’, ‘I did not expect such a fantastic show... What a blast...’ AND,( from the same person), ‘Don’t quote me, but it was f....ing great...I want to be a Nun !!’...

We await with interest the player’s Autumn show at the Bethel; ‘Spamalot’.

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