Hallelujah! Pride Life reviews Sister Act, The Musical
Sister Act – The Musical achieves that very difficult feat of taking a well known and well loved product from one medium to another by not producing a carbon copy of its previous incarnation.
On screen, Sister Act was a fabulously feel-good comedy farce with the heroine Deloris Van Cartier played in the over-the-top ditsy style that is a Whoopi Goldberg trademark.
On-stage we are treated to a blaxploitation-styled Deloris whose quick wit is sassy and street rather than slapstick.
The opening numbers see downtrodden nightclub singer Deloris witness a murder committed by her gangster boyfriend, Shank, and being packed off to a convent to hide out until she is able to give evidence.
The clash of cultures that ensues provides the basis of the comedy as well as the heart-warming moral of strength through friendship and sisterhood (religious or secular), all set to a soulful disco score. Sheila Hancock’s Mother Superior provides the gravitas to counterbalance the spunk of Deloris.
The ecclesiastical puns come thick and fast with innocent holy exclamations turned into blasphemy when exclaimed by the filthy mouth and bad attitude of Deloris. Tasked with looking after the choir, the tempo starts to increase as we see the noisy nuns slowly but surely transformed into swinging Sisters and at the same time increasing the fortunes of the parish church.
As the success of the church and its choir grows the set erupts as the LED-lit stained glass and Technicolor rose window flash brighter and faster and the scaffolding and the shrouding over the dominating statue of Jesus disappear.
The nun’s habits turn from vestal virgin black to glittery rainbow gowns. The perfect casting here shines through as the slick dancing moves and impeccable choreography has the effect of not being too perfect as to render the miraculous change unbelievable.
It is not all about the girls though and the male performances from Shank’s three henchmen provide a crude cringe-worthy laugh as they explain how they would pull a nun complete with lewd crotch grabbing.
Ako Mitchell is sweaty Eddy, the desk-bound policeman who has been in love with Deloris since High School and helps her to hide out wins the affection of the audience, but the love interest plotline is unnecessary. The coming together of Deloris and Eddy at the end feels slightly forced and had a very lacklustre response from the crowd. Love interests for love interests’ sake are always a bad idea and the storyline could stand up with out it.
Of course, being a feel-good musical the bad guy gets banged up, the heroine comes good and the finale is a rip-roaring treat that gets the audience on their feet well before the first curtain call.
My somewhat sceptical partner who had told me before the start if he did not like it he was off at the interval was up and whooping with the best of them. If this endorsement doesn’t make you book now, that this one single scene will:
Desperate to enjoy a good night out and a drink or twenty, Deloris slips out of cloisters and seeks refuge in the local gay bay followed by three sisters. The sight of a young sweet nun having the hem of her habit felt by a rather butch lesbian is something I never thought I would see and definitely something you should.
Sister Act is at the Royal London Palladium and is booking to 17 March 2011
