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SISTER ACT (musical)
Ends 30th October 2010.
Audio Described performance: Wednesday 30th September 2010 at 3pm
How do you solve a problem like hoards of unemployed nuns cluttering up your
theatre? Answer: adapt 80s Lounge Singer hides in Convent movie "Sister Act" for
the stage. Cabaret changes Catholic Church and Community, but just how far for
the good?
Out go the tunes from the movie, in comes an all-new score by Menken and Slater,
with a Steinkellner book. Sadly, no sub-story concerning "Sister Josephine"
either - a 'right funny nun' she was... Instead, we get Patina Miller in the
Whoopie Goldberg role of Deloris and Sally Dexter as Mother Superior.
Cast information is given for
interest only and theatremonkey.com
take no responsibility for any changes that may occur, or any issue arising for
any ticket holder.
View video clips about this production.

Patina Miller and Sheila Hancock, stars of the hit musical Sister Act were at
Dress Circle in Covent Garden on Saturday 1st August 2009, meeting fans and
signing copies of Sister Act CD.

Excited fans began queuing early to be sure to be amongst the first to have
their CDs signed and to say hello to the two stars.
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How did they solve the problem of a theatre infested with nuns? Apparently
patented Nun-traps were laid, but these are ladies trained to avoid temptation,
and even a shiny leather-bound hymn lying temptingly on the trigger was ignored.
Instead they decided to get a lounge singer in, train 'em up as cabaret artistes
and charge up to £85 a throw for us to see them.
Channelling the spirit of St Fisher of Television, nervous unknowns are thrust
into the spotlight under the tutorage of someone who isn't all they seems (have
YOU ever seen Andrew Lloyd Webber and Susan Boyle in the same room
simultaneously? The monkey neither). Anyway, this time the tutor is Delores, a
performer in Witness Protection - and the story is adapted from the fabulous
film.
The show looks wonderful, and sounds great in places too. Soaring sets and some
strong numbers (complete with choreographed in-Habit-ents of course) give the
thing a decent kick. The humour is there, though somewhat coarser than
appropriate to the atmosphere and subject, and unlike the film the voices are
real. Is it only the monkey who was choked to find that cute Sister Mary Roberts
was dubbed on screen?).
Add to the total two stand out performances by Patina Miller and Sheila Hancock
as Deloris and Mother superior respectively, and this should be a knockout...
... yet, forgive the monkey for it knows not why, it isn't quite. The book
doesn't follow the film, largely because the original isn't quite stageable as
it stands. The dumb sub-plots and need to allow seemingly every character a
warble slow things down, and the ending isn't quite the explosive mixture
expected. Second, the film's spiced up hymns and religious slanted showroom
tunes were perfect. You can like, sometimes love the new score, but somehow the
monkey occasionally found itself just feeling that the originals did the job so
much better. Had the show preceded the film, it wouldn't have mattered, but it
didn't, so it does a bit.
This really is worth seeing as an example of a well-crafted song and dance show,
staged with the panache the London Palladium requires. Some may hope the mob
catch up with Delores before too long, others, including the monkey, simply say,
"go in please, this mass is entertaining."
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