Sister Act Festival Theatre Edinburgh 2nd October 2023 Review
Sister Act A Divine Musical Comedy is at The Festival Theatre Edinburgh this week (Mon 02 to Sat 07 October) and as usual this show, based on the 1992 film of the same name, appears to be as popular as ever with audiences of all ages.
Since its original run in 2006, Sister Act A Divine Musical Comedy has captured that love that we seem to have for some reason of singing nuns, and taken “The Sound of Music” and infused it with the classic sounds of 1970s disco music. As the show is set in Philadelphia, we have that added bonus of all of that wonderful music that effortlessly blended soul and funk together, and any lover of the many artists on the Philadelphia record label will know exactly what I mean here.
This story line of nightclub singer Deloris Van Cartier (Landi Oshinowo) being witness to a murder and needing somewhere to hide to save her life is not exactly one of great depth, but this show does not need it. Here it very quickly sets the background for the rest of this show by placing Deloris in the last place that she or anyone else would expect her to be - a convent. Just as well for this story and musical though that St Katherine’s was not a silent order.
Some productions are on stage to make you contemplate their subject matter, others to give a voice to those who need their story to be told, but many, like this one, are pure and simple entertainment; you come into the theatre, forget about the outside world for a few hours and just enjoy the show. Here, with an experienced cast that includes Lesley Joseph (Mother Superior), Lizzie Bea (Sister Mary Robert), Ian Gareth-Jones (Curtis Jackson), Alfie Parker (Eddie Souther) and of course the aforementioned Landi Oshinowo as Deloris Von Cartier, the stage is literally set for a trip back into the sounds and the fashions of the 1970s. This show though has, over the years, had a little bit of PC tweaking and the small rap music section is just out of place here, but this is more than made up with a small but very good live eight piece orchestra.
In Sister Act, writers Cheri and Bill Steinkellner have given the show a story that is full of wonderful one-liners for Deloris and Mother Superior to deliver, and both Landi Oshinowo and Lesley Joseph are obviously having a lot of fun here playing against each other. As always though, nuns do seem to get the best put-down lines.
Musically this show is full of surprises with Alan Menken (composer) and Glenn Slater (Lyrics) so often having songs with a superficial disco gloss but far more meaningful and often very dark undertones just beneath that surface. A good example of this is when Curtis (Ian Gareth-Jones) and his goons perform “When I Find My Baby”.
Any show that is popular with audiences for this length of time usually has something extra about it though, some other layers to the main performance, and Sister Act is no exception to this rule. If you strip away all the disco glitter, all of the song and dance numbers, you are in the end left with a show that is really about finding out who exactly you are as a person and what you want out of your life while along that path finding true friends and a place that you feel that you really belong in, even if the answers to all of these questions surprise even you.
Review by Tom King © 2023
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com
Since its original run in 2006, Sister Act A Divine Musical Comedy has captured that love that we seem to have for some reason of singing nuns, and taken “The Sound of Music” and infused it with the classic sounds of 1970s disco music. As the show is set in Philadelphia, we have that added bonus of all of that wonderful music that effortlessly blended soul and funk together, and any lover of the many artists on the Philadelphia record label will know exactly what I mean here.
This story line of nightclub singer Deloris Van Cartier (Landi Oshinowo) being witness to a murder and needing somewhere to hide to save her life is not exactly one of great depth, but this show does not need it. Here it very quickly sets the background for the rest of this show by placing Deloris in the last place that she or anyone else would expect her to be - a convent. Just as well for this story and musical though that St Katherine’s was not a silent order.
Some productions are on stage to make you contemplate their subject matter, others to give a voice to those who need their story to be told, but many, like this one, are pure and simple entertainment; you come into the theatre, forget about the outside world for a few hours and just enjoy the show. Here, with an experienced cast that includes Lesley Joseph (Mother Superior), Lizzie Bea (Sister Mary Robert), Ian Gareth-Jones (Curtis Jackson), Alfie Parker (Eddie Souther) and of course the aforementioned Landi Oshinowo as Deloris Von Cartier, the stage is literally set for a trip back into the sounds and the fashions of the 1970s. This show though has, over the years, had a little bit of PC tweaking and the small rap music section is just out of place here, but this is more than made up with a small but very good live eight piece orchestra.
In Sister Act, writers Cheri and Bill Steinkellner have given the show a story that is full of wonderful one-liners for Deloris and Mother Superior to deliver, and both Landi Oshinowo and Lesley Joseph are obviously having a lot of fun here playing against each other. As always though, nuns do seem to get the best put-down lines.
Musically this show is full of surprises with Alan Menken (composer) and Glenn Slater (Lyrics) so often having songs with a superficial disco gloss but far more meaningful and often very dark undertones just beneath that surface. A good example of this is when Curtis (Ian Gareth-Jones) and his goons perform “When I Find My Baby”.
Any show that is popular with audiences for this length of time usually has something extra about it though, some other layers to the main performance, and Sister Act is no exception to this rule. If you strip away all the disco glitter, all of the song and dance numbers, you are in the end left with a show that is really about finding out who exactly you are as a person and what you want out of your life while along that path finding true friends and a place that you feel that you really belong in, even if the answers to all of these questions surprise even you.
Review by Tom King © 2023
www.artsreviewsedinburgh.com