REVIEW - Sister Act has hilarity, halos and happiness running through each and every one of its rosary beads

On Monday, we were invited to the Palace Theatre, Manchester to see Sister Act. Read what our reviewer Karen Ryder had to say about this fantastic musical...

The rockin’, boppin, diva Deloris is back in Manchester and is still fabulous baby!  And more than that, this show will leave you feeling fabulous too for it raises your spirits as well as the rafters with its high energy, soul soaring songs, and cracking comedy.  Sister Act knows exactly how and when to pull you into its heavenly arms, but also has a little shimmy with the devil along the way, ensuring that this musical blesses everyone who is fortunate enough to secure a ticket!  So, glory be to the musical theatre Gods for answering all my prayers with such an incredible night of theatre!

Our whirlwind nightclub singer Deloris storms the stage in a fabulous frenzy of electricity, but her thunderous boyfriend strikes lightening bolts into the hearts of anyone who crosses him.  When Deloris witnesses him commit murder, it’s time to exit stage right.  But these are dangerous people and so it isn’t enough to simply tuck herself away in the wings.  Besides, Deloris isn’t exactly someone who easily blends into a crowd with her larger than life personality.  And so it is that she finds herself under police protection with a new identity.  Where is safer to hide out than in a convent right?  As Deloris begrudgingly takes on a new persona as Sister Mary Clarence, she starts to discover she is capable of so much more than her old life was offering her.  Charged with putting her skills to use and leading the convents struggling choir, Deloris learns just as much as she teaches.  She takes the nuns quirks, their loyalties, their love into her heart and in return fills theirs with a passion for music and a newfound self-belief.  But Deloris once danced with the devil Curtis, and he is coming back to stake his claim on her soul.  As he discovers her hiding place in the convent and tries to bring darkness to the purity of their sanctuary, Deloris learns the power of unconditional love from her Sisters.  Throw in the opportunity to perform for The Pope being risked by Curtis, and you’ll see a side to nuns you never dreamed possible!

The stage will take your breath away with a mirage of the most glorious stained glass window designs, mesmerising you with a wealth of dazzling colour.  It’s like a rainbow has come alive and dressed the set!  The design, created by the expertise of Morgan Large is not only magnificent and full of stature with its arches, but is equally minimalistic so that it never complicates, only ever enhances each scene.  These slick features make it entirely possible to be taken from the sanctity of Church to a riotous nightclub, a police station, or an apartment (with many secret hiding places for nuns) in a heartbeat.  Morgan Large’s costumes are brilliant too and he manages to balance the simplicity of the nuns habits, with the flamboyancy of Deloris’ world, and the alter ego of Curtis and his team of gangsters.  Watch out for the finale too!  It’s an explosion of sequined delight that celebrates fashion and puts the show in showbiz!

And all of that is before I even mention that the sensational music is penned by none other than multi award winning Alan Menken!  I mean, come on!  What’s not to love here?  With lyrics by Glenn Slater, this score will show you exactly how its done when it comes to the feel good factor.  It is pure joy and will raise your spirits to the heavens and beyond.  When a show opens with a belter like Take Me To Heaven, it sets its own standard, and it doesn’t disappoint once.  Whether you are moving and shaking along to Fabulous Baby, belly laughing at the hilarious It’s Good To Be A Nun, or listening in utter amazement at the sensational Raise Your Voice, you will fall in love with these songs and be humming them for the foreseeable.

Sue Cleaver (Coronation Street, Dinner Ladies) has the perfect humour to play Mother Superior and delivers it with eye watering impact.  I was genuinely crying with laughter for she has absolutely nailed the character whilst equally bringing her own unique twist to it.  The technique of humour at play is mesmerising, ensuring you laugh at things you didn’t even think could be funny!  And the detail is brilliant, such as when she hitches her habit up and we see one sock is pulled up and the other one has given up hope and fallen down.  She is able to speak a thousand words with one raised eyebrow, one prolonged breath or one eye roll.  Sue Cleaver had this entire Manchester audience on her side tonight, and deservedly so.  

Landi Oshinowo (Matilda, The Colour Purple) is insanely talented as Deloris.  What a voice!  Her energy is not only relentless but also contagious for her performance makes you believe that you too can move mountains, take on the bad guys and win!  She plays Deloris with a fresh kind of sass that is uniquely her own, a charming humour and a hint of vulnerability.  She redefines what a diva can be, and relaces the negative connotations of this word with a powerful positivity.  Eloise Runnette (Professional debut) is sublime as Sister Mary Roberts.  Be prepared to drop your jaw and be so stunned at her brilliance that you forget to pick it back up again during her solo ‘The Life I Never Led.’  Talk about being wowed.  It was heartfelt, humbling and will give you goosebumps.  And her range!  Mariah eat your heart out!  Alfie Parker (Fat Friends, Kinky Boots) as Eddie is someone else who you can’t help rooting for.  A seemingly reserved and shy character, we get a true sense of the real person lurking underneath when he dazzles us with a solo performance you won’t forget!  Costume reveals, charisma, charm, and a sultry voice make you fall in love with Eddie.  He has the audience eating out of the palm of his hand as the show goes on and I am living for it!  He knows how to control his voice, when to hold back, and when to let loose for maximum impact and the result is special.

Ian Gareth-Jones (Mary Poppins, Only Fools & Horses) plays the villainous Curtis with a demanding strength and power.  You never doubt he is in charge or that he could turn on a knife edge at any moment.  His solo When I Find My Baby is so good that you find yourself bopping along to his murderous plans, and it is testimony to his skills for it’s a song of duplex meanings.  Isabel Canning (White Christmas, The Witches Of Eastwick) is superb as the excitable Sister Mary Patrick.  You feel her energy and her performance is filled with such detailed nuances that you kind of feel like you wish you knew her and you are rooting for her throughout.  She is like an adorable puppy who you can’t help but love and she never stops performing.  Her dancing in their first church performance under Deloris immediately grabbed the audience’s attention and had us in stiches.  Julie Stark (We Will Rock You, Head Over Heels) is brilliant as the rapping nun - Sister Mary Lazarus.  This moment is always a highlight of the show, and Stark absolutely kills it.  She is brilliant at portraying the comedic contradictions and watching her street dance in a habit one minute, and being a devout nun the next makes her a legend!  I could sit here and happily write glorious things about every cast member, from Phillip Arran who allows his rigid character to let loose and rock his Elton John glasses, to Kate Powell and Wendy-Lee Purdy as daydreaming and rockin’ nuns, or Elliot Gooch, Michalis Antoniou and Callum Martin as the brilliantly gormless and delusional members of Curtis’ gang.

Sister Act has hilarity, halos and happiness running through each and every one of its rosary beads.  With quick wit, deadpan deliveries and observational humour woven through a glorious musical theatre hymn book of songs, the feelings of elation rise higher and higher until you realise you have jaw ache from the grin that is emblazoned across your face.  As the nuns enter singing perilously out of tune with each other, you instinctively know this show just has that magical ‘it.’  Besides, it takes some real skill for a cast this good to sound that bad, before they sound so good again.  One of my favourite ‘blink and you miss it’ lines of all time is in this show when referring to a bold fashion choice of a blue coat, “You killed a smurf.”  The script is quick, fierce, and fabulous, and there is something inherently funny about taking nuns and making them disco dance and shake their tush!  It’s the joy of the unexpected I guess, and the brilliant way it challenges preconceived notions of who nuns are.  Sister Act is a comedy master at playing with perception, colluding with contradictions and igniting irony.  A perfect example of this, as well as nuns in a nightclub, are the death threats from Curtis, dressed up in a love song and performed with all the cheerful cheesiness of a heart throb boy band!  Throw in a drag queen, plenty of sparkles, and showbiz glamour and you’ve got yourself a party my friend!  Sister Act has fed my soul with a blissful euphoria that will leave me smiling for days.  The music is joyous, the harmonies heavenly, and the story triumphant.  Sister Act is heaven sent!

WE SCORE SISTER ACT...

Sister Act is on at the Palace Theatre, Manchester until Saturday 30th March 2024.


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