Sister Act – Darlington Hippodrome
Press Night: 9th September 2024
Invited| Review by Stephen Stokoe
It is always a delight to see a theatre bouncing and Darlington Hippodrome certainly was this evening as they welcomed the touring cast of ‘Sister Act’ to the stage. This is a high octane production with costumes to match and a great deal of talent on the stage.
This is, of course, the musical version of the 1992 Whoopi Goldberg film of the same name and with only a few minor tweaks delivers largely the same story. Wannabe night club singer Deloris Van Cartier witnesses her nogoodnik gangster boyfriend murder one of his gangster buddies and is taken into witness protection by the police of Philadelphia. Unfortunately for the non nonsense and salt of the earth 7Deloris, they place her with the nuns of the local convent where she feels very ill at ease.
Filling the immense boots of Whoopi Goldberg in the title role would be a formidable task for even the best of performers but Landi Oshinowo with her masses of musical theatre experience does an amazing job. She manages to balance the rough and ready singer through her redemption and new found faith in her sisters with great ease and her vocals are a joy to listen to throughout.
Fans of the film will also be looking for a masterly performance from the Mother Superior and headlining the cast in this role is Coronation Street alumnus, Wendi Peters. However, for the performance this evening, I was treated to a wonderful interpretation from understudy, Kate Powell, who under normal circumstances plays Sister Mary Martin of Tours. As the Mother Superior, Powell commanded the stage and really came into her own in her Sondheim-esque solo ‘I Haven’t Got a Prayer’ early in the second half.
The righteous cast would not be complete without a timid to start but flowering starlet in the form of Sister Mary Roberts and taking the role this evening with a superb performance was swing and appropriately named Corinne Priest.
The thing that sets this production apart from many of the others that pale in comparison is the fact that it does not take itself too seriously. This becomes apparent when we meet the gangsters of the piece and in particular head baddy Curtis Jackson’s (Ian Gareth-Jones) henchmen. They are very much played for laughs. TJ (Elliot Gooch) is the innocent – not too bright nephew of Curtis, Pablo (Michalis Antoniou) the unintelligible Spanish goon and last but not least Joey (Callum Martin) who collectively act the giddy goat throughout. Their number ‘Lady in the Long Black Dress’ is particularly hilarious but when they act as Curtis’ backing singers in the first half you really get the sense of what composer and lyricist Alan Menken and Glenn Slater successfully manage to achieve with their fabulous score.
All too often, especially in musical theatre, the audience is subjected to a very contrived and highly unlikely love story between two often athletic and always aesthetically pleasing people. The love story in this production is understated but happens between Deloris and the detective Eddie Souther (Alfie Parker), who comes to her rescue after she witnesses the murder. It transpires that she and Eddie have a past together having attended the same high school. As we have already discovered Deloris, to be polite, has probably had a rough upbringing, and Eddie has troubles of his own. This dynamic really works and the pair of them, deservedly, got the loudest cheers as they took their bows tonight.
Tom Slade as musical director has done a superb job of bringing Alan Menken’s music to life and the band were brilliant tonight under the supervision of his assistant MD, Honor Halford-Macleod. The costumes under the supervision of Jennie Falconer, Louise Nipper and Sarah Banbury for Bristol Costume Services are all magnificent. The finale costumes are really quite something and are worth the ticket price alone. Alfie Parker, who is my star of the night, particularly revels in his and it is very much worth looking out for.
Sister Act at Darlington Hippodrome is a superb night out for anyone who loves musical theatre and/or the original film and I have no doubt that people who are not familiar with either will thoroughly enjoy this production which runs until 14th September before continuing on its heavenly UK tour. It’s fabulous, baby!