Darlington Hippodrome – until Saturday 14 September 2024
4****
From the costumes to the staging, everything from beginning to end, was pure joy in this production of Sister Act.
Ambitious club singer Deloris Van Cartier (the very talented Landi Oshinowo) sees her controlling gangster boyfriend Curtis (Ian Gareth-Jones) commit murder and former schoolmate ‘Steady’ Eddie Souther (Alfie Parker) arranges police protection. The book by Cheri and Bill Steinkellner follows the rough outline of Joseph Howard’s film starring Whoopi Goldberg. Somewhat incongruous, the safe house chosen by the cops is a convent, which gets shaken to its religious foundations by the heroine, in her new guise as Sister Mary Clarence. Appointed to supervise the tone-deaf choir, she turns them into a group of swinging sisters whose sudden fame imperils both her and their safety.
Dripping with disco and soul, the songs were charming, uplifting and added to the feelgood atmosphere of the show. A notable song was Take Me To Heaven, which was by far one of the best numbers in the show. Alan Menkin and Glenn Slater supply climactic soul-baring ballads for Deloris and the Mother Superior, and Sister Mary Robert too, in which each questions the tenets of her personal faith. All played by the live band, led by Honor Halford-Macleod.
Kate Powell, filling in for an indisposed Wendi Peters, as Mother Superior is amazing. To my ear she sounded like Julie Andrews. Corrine Priest’s Sister Mary Robert gave a wonderful performance, singing and dancing her way into all our hearts with a great joie de vivre. Whilst the gyrating hip-work of Elliot Gooch, Michalis Antoniou and Callum Martin were wonderfully camp with over the top comedy and a few scene-stealing moments. Star of the show for me was Alfie Parker as Detective Eddie. He shows depth and warmth and a real human heart in the role. His song “I Could be that Guy” where he rips his clothes off from cop to Travolta back to cop was hilarious.
Morgan Large’s costumes and the staging certainly lifted this production in many ways. While not much can be done with a simple nun costume, the finale saw brightly coloured sequin robes which added to the delightfulness of the production.
This show had all of the ingredients: the characters were played brilliantly, and the comedic value was there, and catchy songs. The show is a joy to watch and will put a smile on anyone’s face when they go and see it. On tour around the UK, go and see it now