Sister Act (Redditch Operatic Society)
Becoming somewhat a cult classic the stage musical interpretation of the 1992 movie starring Whoopi Goldberg is incredibly popular for amateur performance at the moment and it's not hard to see why, however as I sat down to read the programme at this performance I found myself filled with trepidation at the fact that the lead character of Deloris Van Cartier is played by Laura Woodall.
Nothing strange in that you might think but, Laura isn't African American and surely that part requires an actor of that descent, maybe the accent isn't a problem to achieve but, surely the skin tone is, knowing the show well there are some lines that just wouldn't work so this must be doomed to failure.
Let's clarify one thing first Laura is an exceptional singer, a great actress and quite literally embraces the character of Deloris in every way and of course lines can be changed so that they fit in with whatever artistic rendering of a production a director might wish to use and far greater artistic license has been used in professional theatre. So this does work and it wasn't very long before I allowed my traditionalist view of stage arts to subside in order to be completely entertained by this performance expertly directed/choreographed by Tony Jay and Paula Lacey.
Deloris's gangster boyfriend (his shooting of one of his 'staff' being the reason for her ensconcement in a convent) is played with quiet yet unnerving evil by John Reeves (do get a gun holster though John, trying to pull your weapon from an inside jacket pocket was always going to be difficult and I felt for you every time I knew that was due to happen). Some lovely comic moments from his 'henchmen', Joey, TJ and Pablo (Matthew Bridgewater, Xavier Reeves and Ryan Allen respectively), their performance of the song 'Lady In The Long Black Dress' in particular was nothing short of hilarious.
Whilst there is obviously comedic value in the character of a nun, it takes some concerted acting effort to make that comedy both funny and believable, something achieved with distinction by Emma Sansom as Sister Mary Patrick and with almost nonchalance by Elizabeth Bird as the caustic yet insanely funny Sister Mary Lazarus. Singing voices that deserve a bigger venue and a larger audience in Eleanor Peberdy as the Mother Superior, Lucy Traves as the postulant with the powerful vocal Sister Mary Robert and a totally smooth, natural and soulful rendition of 'I Could Be That Guy' from Paul Mitchell as Officer 'Sweaty' Eddie Souther.
It's fairly difficult to do a poor job with music from Alan Menken and lyrics from Glenn Slater but, Joe George excels in bringing every note to life and with only a few performances left (this one only runs until Saturday 25th November 2017) it would be a crying shame to miss something that Austin Powers would describe as 'Fabulous Baby'.
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Nothing strange in that you might think but, Laura isn't African American and surely that part requires an actor of that descent, maybe the accent isn't a problem to achieve but, surely the skin tone is, knowing the show well there are some lines that just wouldn't work so this must be doomed to failure.
Let's clarify one thing first Laura is an exceptional singer, a great actress and quite literally embraces the character of Deloris in every way and of course lines can be changed so that they fit in with whatever artistic rendering of a production a director might wish to use and far greater artistic license has been used in professional theatre. So this does work and it wasn't very long before I allowed my traditionalist view of stage arts to subside in order to be completely entertained by this performance expertly directed/choreographed by Tony Jay and Paula Lacey.
Deloris's gangster boyfriend (his shooting of one of his 'staff' being the reason for her ensconcement in a convent) is played with quiet yet unnerving evil by John Reeves (do get a gun holster though John, trying to pull your weapon from an inside jacket pocket was always going to be difficult and I felt for you every time I knew that was due to happen). Some lovely comic moments from his 'henchmen', Joey, TJ and Pablo (Matthew Bridgewater, Xavier Reeves and Ryan Allen respectively), their performance of the song 'Lady In The Long Black Dress' in particular was nothing short of hilarious.
Whilst there is obviously comedic value in the character of a nun, it takes some concerted acting effort to make that comedy both funny and believable, something achieved with distinction by Emma Sansom as Sister Mary Patrick and with almost nonchalance by Elizabeth Bird as the caustic yet insanely funny Sister Mary Lazarus. Singing voices that deserve a bigger venue and a larger audience in Eleanor Peberdy as the Mother Superior, Lucy Traves as the postulant with the powerful vocal Sister Mary Robert and a totally smooth, natural and soulful rendition of 'I Could Be That Guy' from Paul Mitchell as Officer 'Sweaty' Eddie Souther.
It's fairly difficult to do a poor job with music from Alan Menken and lyrics from Glenn Slater but, Joe George excels in bringing every note to life and with only a few performances left (this one only runs until Saturday 25th November 2017) it would be a crying shame to miss something that Austin Powers would describe as 'Fabulous Baby'.
Book Here
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