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Post by capybara on May 1, 2024 18:30:55 GMT
I can’t say this is one of my favourite musicals but I’m quite happy to see Beverley Knight in any role. She did not disappoint. Although Alan Menken’s score didn’t quite offer Bev the freedom to match the vocal heights she reached in Sylvia last year, her star quality really does elevate any show.
The big ensemble moments are worth the admission fee (in my case, a rush ticket) alone. Raise Your Voice, Take Me To Heaven and Fabulous, Baby! are all great soul songs and Bev’s vocals sound incredible on them. I think I have been lucky to see both her and Sandra Marvin in the role of Deloris.
It’s a fun musical, albeit with a pretty ropey book. It doesn’t really matter though. It’s been parachuted into the Dominion with a cast to put bums of seats for a few months and it seems to be capable of doing it. Ruth Jones made for a decent Mother Superior, with the not-so-subtle Welsh references and well-timed ‘Ow!’ only adding to what is essentially a pseudo-pantomime of a production.
Lemar was… OK. He hit the notes but he’s no actor, is he? Our Bev aside, it was once again Lizzie Bea who provided the highlight of this matinee performance with her electric rendition of The Life I Never Led. What a voice.
Clive Rowe was what you’d expect as Steady Eddie. He sounded grew but I do think this show could lose a good 20-30 minutes and, to be honest, cutting the subplot romance between Deloris and Eddie would probably be the easiest way to do that.
So, yes; hardly a life-changing musical theatre experience but £30 to spend a couple of hours watching Beverley Knight belt out some genuinely great numbers? Go on then. I’d love to see her originate more roles in the future though (or just bring back Sylvia!!!).
Three stars.
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Post by Deleted on May 1, 2024 19:49:31 GMT
I wonder if a film version of the musical could happen. Cynthia Erivo played the role on stage - Whoopi as the Mother Superior does this make too much sense?
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Post by d'James on May 1, 2024 20:20:20 GMT
I wonder if a film version of the musical could happen. Cynthia Erivo played the role on stage - Whoopi as the Mother Superior does this make too much sense? I need an official recording of Cynthia singing the score. Such a shame we didn’t get one. Mother Superior; they’d probably get the latest comedy thing in, or Olivia Colman. I’m not sure who could be as good as Maggie Smith and sing the role. |
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Post by theatrefan2007 on May 1, 2024 21:53:44 GMT
Does anyone think since this production is going to the Netherlands and Australia this year that it might have a revival on Broadway? I hope so because I think this production will be good on Broadway.
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Post by Being Alive on May 1, 2024 21:57:16 GMT
Broadway (and the West End tbh) deserve better than this cheaply put together production.
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Post by theatrefan2007 on May 1, 2024 22:15:38 GMT
Broadway (and the West End tbh) deserve better than this cheaply put together production. Just out of pure nosiness (and without being rude because I do respect your opinion) why do you think it’s cheap? |
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Post by Being Alive on May 1, 2024 22:32:32 GMT
Because they're basically no set.
It's a touring production, and a cheaply put together one at that, that's been put in a west end house.
Basically nothing is automated, the ensemble at moving all the set pieces on, it looks very basic.
It's objectively very cheap I'm afraid.
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Post by craig on May 1, 2024 22:34:27 GMT
Saw this tonight and thought it was a great cast but a cheap production that was drowned on the Dominion stage. The set was practically non existent.
Bev Knight is one of the best singers in the UK and, honestly, this feels a bit beneath her. A joy, as always, to hear her sing though. She makes it look so easy.
Lizzie Bea was also notably fantastic but it is a brilliant cast overall.
The score is far from Menken’s best work. I’ve always thought the fantastic film deserved better. But fair play to its success in the UK. People obviously love it.
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Post by theatrefan2007 on May 1, 2024 22:37:31 GMT
Because they're basically no set. It's a touring production, and a cheaply put together one at that, that's been put in a west end house. Basically nothing is automated, the ensemble at moving all the set pieces on, it looks very basic. It's objectively very cheap I'm afraid. To be fair I see your point. The first two times I saw it they cut back most of the set and did look very cheap. The current set on tour did work better but I do understand what you mean with nothing automated. I’m probably coming from a different viewpoint as well because this was the first production I saw of Sister Act and I loved it. |
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Post by Being Alive on May 1, 2024 22:57:51 GMT
Because they're basically no set. It's a touring production, and a cheaply put together one at that, that's been put in a west end house. Basically nothing is automated, the ensemble at moving all the set pieces on, it looks very basic. It's objectively very cheap I'm afraid. To be fair I see your point. The first two times I saw it they cut back most of the set and did look very cheap. The current set on tour did work better but I do understand what you mean with nothing automated. I’m probably coming from a different viewpoint as well because this was the first production I saw of Sister Act and I loved it. The original production at the palladium was wonderful - adored it's use of the drum revolve! |
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Post by amyja89 on May 1, 2024 23:03:20 GMT
I must have seen the original production ten times, it was my happy place for a while there back in the day! I remember on one occasion the revolve broke and the show had to be stopped for 15 mins or so.
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Post by d'James on May 1, 2024 23:36:14 GMT
I must have seen the original production ten times, it was my happy place for a while there back in the day! I remember on one occasion the revolve broke and the show had to be stopped for 15 mins or so. Me too. If I’d had a bad day at work, I’d go along to the Box Office at 1915 and see what I could get, to cheer me up. |
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Post by anthem on May 2, 2024 8:01:49 GMT
There are a couple of additions to the set/staging for the West End when compared with the tour if I understand correctly?
There are only a handful of scenes outside of the convent- I imagine they just go for doing the convent bit properly & then slotting the other stuff in. I thought I Could Be That Guy was cleverly staged.
Not really sure where elaborate staging could ever be part of the show as it isn’t called for & the piece is about a bunch of nuns who have taken a vow of poverty…was the original London production that much more lavish?
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Post by ladidah on May 2, 2024 8:05:43 GMT
I never saw any other productions, but I think the staging works fine.
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Post by fluxcapacitor on May 2, 2024 8:52:58 GMT
There are a couple of additions to the set/staging for the West End when compared with the tour if I understand correctly? There are only a handful of scenes outside of the convent- I imagine they just go for doing the convent bit properly & then slotting the other stuff in. I thought I Could Be That Guy was cleverly staged. Not really sure where elaborate staging could ever be part of the show as it isn’t called for & the piece is about a bunch of nuns who have taken a vow of poverty…was the original London production that much more lavish? Yes, the original London production was much more lavish. The base is similar (all built around an ornate stained glass window) but the tour/current set begins and ends with that. As well as being on a larger scale, the original set had so much more to it. The club, Dolores’ bedroom, the bar, the final chase scene etc. were all distinct separate sets which opened it up and made it feel bigger than just the convent. In fact, I remember the “reveal” of the convent being quite a big moment in the original whereas now it’s just there from the start. I don’t mind the current version and agree it looks and works fine, but there’s no denying it’s stripped down massively compared to the original. |
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Post by thedrowsychaperone on May 2, 2024 9:20:27 GMT
The chase scene towards the end of act 2 was BONKERS in the original London production too. I imagine most of their technical rehearsals were on that one scene alone.
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Post by anthem on May 2, 2024 15:12:43 GMT
There are a couple of additions to the set/staging for the West End when compared with the tour if I understand correctly? There are only a handful of scenes outside of the convent- I imagine they just go for doing the convent bit properly & then slotting the other stuff in. I thought I Could Be That Guy was cleverly staged. Not really sure where elaborate staging could ever be part of the show as it isn’t called for & the piece is about a bunch of nuns who have taken a vow of poverty…was the original London production that much more lavish? Yes, the original London production was much more lavish. The base is similar (all built around an ornate stained glass window) but the tour/current set begins and ends with that. As well as being on a larger scale, the original set had so much more to it. The club, Dolores’ bedroom, the bar, the final chase scene etc. were all distinct separate sets which opened it up and made it feel bigger than just the convent. In fact, I remember the “reveal” of the convent being quite a big moment in the original whereas now it’s just there from the start. I don’t mind the current version and agree it looks and works fine, but there’s no denying it’s stripped down massively compared to the original. Ah, ok. I didn’t see the production, just a dodgy bootleg on YouTube, and I really didn’t see much difference between what was in that & what I saw on tour. But I’ll defer to your view. |
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Post by MusicalTalk on May 2, 2024 16:50:23 GMT
I heard something silly like the software to develop the automation programming for the show cost £85k alone!
It truly was a remarkable feature of design. The aforementioned Chase scene was one of the most impressive coup de theatre I’d ever seen especially when the whole set turned black-and-white in front of your very eyes.
The abbey reveal was a marvel as well. I wish we would see shows like this again! No screens, no projections … just absolutely beautiful physical scenery and technology being used hand-in-hand to create a wonderful experience.
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Post by fluxcapacitor on May 2, 2024 21:28:15 GMT
I heard something silly like the software to develop the automation programming for the show cost £85k alone! It truly was a remarkable feature of design. The aforementioned Chase scene was one of the most impressive coup de theatre I’d ever seen especially when the whole set turned black-and-white in front of your very eyes. The abbey reveal was a marvel as well. I wish we would see shows like this again! No screens, no projections … just absolutely beautiful physical scenery and technology being used hand-in-hand to create a wonderful experience. I LOVED that chase scene. It was visually stunning and wasn’t just style over substance - it really conveyed the difficulty finding Dolores in a sea of hiding Nuns, and all done with pure theatrical smoke and mirrors. If they developed it from scratch nowadays they’d probably find Dolores hiding outside the theatre fire escape and we’d watch it play out on a large screen in black and white before she was dragged back into the auditorium  |
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Post by thedrowsychaperone on May 3, 2024 9:49:28 GMT
I heard something silly like the software to develop the automation programming for the show cost £85k alone! It truly was a remarkable feature of design. The aforementioned Chase scene was one of the most impressive coup de theatre I’d ever seen especially when the whole set turned black-and-white in front of your very eyes. The abbey reveal was a marvel as well. I wish we would see shows like this again! No screens, no projections … just absolutely beautiful physical scenery and technology being used hand-in-hand to create a wonderful experience. I'm so glad you mentioned the black and white set, for a minute I was thinking that was just my memory playing tricks on me... but it really was THAT impressive! |
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Post by thedriftersgirl on May 7, 2024 23:14:46 GMT
Was looking to go to Sister Act next Thursday 16th but the day seems to entirely greyed out on the official website and various other outlets.
Just wondered if anybody knew why? Is it some sort of additional gala night type evening?
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Post by theatrefan2007 on May 8, 2024 16:20:11 GMT
Was looking to go to Sister Act next Thursday 16th but the day seems to entirely greyed out on the official website and various other outlets. Just wondered if anybody knew why? Is it some sort of additional gala night type evening? That’s actually very strange. There’s nothing on their Social Media platforms. |
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Post by evilmat360 on May 8, 2024 21:01:32 GMT
Was looking to go to Sister Act next Thursday 16th but the day seems to entirely greyed out on the official website and various other outlets. Just wondered if anybody knew why? Is it some sort of additional gala night type evening? Looks like it's a charity gala night. |
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Post by theatrefan2007 on May 9, 2024 11:30:19 GMT
Oh! I think it’s weird that it’s on the website that there’s no performances.
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Post by ladidah on May 11, 2024 11:13:15 GMT
Got a great stalls ticket for this afternoon so going again.
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