Sister Act - the Reviews — Page 2
#27
Posted: 6/3/09 at 6:56am
4* from Fiona Mountford of The London Evening Standard
It's been done before, the reasoning might have gone, so why not do it again? Put a singing nun centre stage in a musical and watch the piece climb every mountain.
The difference this time around is that there are two problems to be solved: one called Deloris, instead of Maria, and another of successfully transferring the popular 1992 Whoopi Goldberg film to the stage.
Whether or not divine intervention is involved, it?s a wimple-wibbling, habit-forming triumph.
You probably know the story by now. Nightclub singer Deloris Van Cartier witnesses her crime boss boyfriend commit a murder, and is hidden away in a failing convent by witness protection until she can testify.
The nuns can?t sing, but Deloris got rhythm and all the sisters triumphantly wind up doing it for themselves, each other and even the Pope.
Before Peter Schneider?s production builds up the unstoppable head of momentum that led to the quickest standing ovation I?ve ever seen on a West End first night, there are some dubious early moments.
The hand-knitted charm of the film is ditched in favour of a far raunchier look, with Deloris (Patina Miller), overly full of attitude initially, and her low-life chums transposed into a Seventies blaxploitation aesthetic.
The year 1992, along with the idea of contemporary religious fervour, seems to be a concept too nebulous for anyone to bother with now.
Once we find Sheila Hancock?s delightfully droll Mother Superior (?God has brought you to this place: take the hint?) waiting for Deloris, sorry, Sister Mary Clarence, things take a distinct turn for the heavenly.
Alan Menken?s attractive, gospel-inflected score kicks in and those soon-to-be swinging sisters introduce themselves marvellously in How I Got the Calling. Helped along by Anthony Van Laast?s energetic choreography, they supply a stream of cherishable images: a can-can line of nuns in gaudy surplices, and then an ad hoc convent pyjama party as they pray away late-night nerves before the climactic encounter with His Holiness.
There?s further fun to be had courtesy of the Deloris-chasing hoodlums who croon a Barry White-esque ode to nun-wooing, Lady In The Long Black Dress. Yet there can be no disputing the evening?s main draw: 24-year-old Miller, who fills this huge stage with so many bundles of star quality that another dressing room will surely have to be found for them all.
Her magnificent voice is rich, soaring and, crucially, unflagging. She might have been unknown last night, but today all that will have changed. Take it away, sisters.
It's been done before, the reasoning might have gone, so why not do it again? Put a singing nun centre stage in a musical and watch the piece climb every mountain.
The difference this time around is that there are two problems to be solved: one called Deloris, instead of Maria, and another of successfully transferring the popular 1992 Whoopi Goldberg film to the stage.
Whether or not divine intervention is involved, it?s a wimple-wibbling, habit-forming triumph.
You probably know the story by now. Nightclub singer Deloris Van Cartier witnesses her crime boss boyfriend commit a murder, and is hidden away in a failing convent by witness protection until she can testify.
The nuns can?t sing, but Deloris got rhythm and all the sisters triumphantly wind up doing it for themselves, each other and even the Pope.
Before Peter Schneider?s production builds up the unstoppable head of momentum that led to the quickest standing ovation I?ve ever seen on a West End first night, there are some dubious early moments.
The hand-knitted charm of the film is ditched in favour of a far raunchier look, with Deloris (Patina Miller), overly full of attitude initially, and her low-life chums transposed into a Seventies blaxploitation aesthetic.
The year 1992, along with the idea of contemporary religious fervour, seems to be a concept too nebulous for anyone to bother with now.
Once we find Sheila Hancock?s delightfully droll Mother Superior (?God has brought you to this place: take the hint?) waiting for Deloris, sorry, Sister Mary Clarence, things take a distinct turn for the heavenly.
Alan Menken?s attractive, gospel-inflected score kicks in and those soon-to-be swinging sisters introduce themselves marvellously in How I Got the Calling. Helped along by Anthony Van Laast?s energetic choreography, they supply a stream of cherishable images: a can-can line of nuns in gaudy surplices, and then an ad hoc convent pyjama party as they pray away late-night nerves before the climactic encounter with His Holiness.
There?s further fun to be had courtesy of the Deloris-chasing hoodlums who croon a Barry White-esque ode to nun-wooing, Lady In The Long Black Dress. Yet there can be no disputing the evening?s main draw: 24-year-old Miller, who fills this huge stage with so many bundles of star quality that another dressing room will surely have to be found for them all.
Her magnificent voice is rich, soaring and, crucially, unflagging. She might have been unknown last night, but today all that will have changed. Take it away, sisters.
"Lateness is a choice" - Sir Trevor Nunn
#28
Posted: 6/3/09 at 6:56am
#30
Posted: 6/3/09 at 7:04am
she probably popped one too many sleeping pills last night... either that or her angina is playing up again and she can't get to her pc
I knew the reviews were going to be pretty bad from the more 'traditional' papers though... simply because its a modern show. and they hate pretty much all new musical theatre because they're too old to understand and appreciate there's a new audience out there.
I knew the reviews were going to be pretty bad from the more 'traditional' papers though... simply because its a modern show. and they hate pretty much all new musical theatre because they're too old to understand and appreciate there's a new audience out there.
"Lateness is a choice" - Sir Trevor Nunn
#31
Posted: 6/3/09 at 7:07am
They are turning out to be pretty much what I expected.
#32
Posted: 6/3/09 at 7:09am
yea me too mama. look at quentin letts picture on his article homepage.... he instantly looks more at place in a morgue than a theatre, so its no wonder he hated it.
you generally quite liked it when you saw it didn't you mama??
you generally quite liked it when you saw it didn't you mama??
"Lateness is a choice" - Sir Trevor Nunn
#33
Posted: 6/3/09 at 7:16am
I really did, yea. It was a great show with some great staging and there were some brilliant Alan Menken numbers there.
I enjoyed it so much more than I expected mainly due to some very strong performances.
I'm seeing it again on Monday or Tuesday.
'Priscilla', although a different kind of show, is much more fun than 'Sister Act' and that is what most people are looking for at the moment.
It will do great business for some time but I still think Qudos knew what they were doing when they pencilled a huge panto there for 2010.
I enjoyed it so much more than I expected mainly due to some very strong performances.
I'm seeing it again on Monday or Tuesday.
'Priscilla', although a different kind of show, is much more fun than 'Sister Act' and that is what most people are looking for at the moment.
It will do great business for some time but I still think Qudos knew what they were doing when they pencilled a huge panto there for 2010.
Updated On: 6/3/09 at 07:16 AM
#34
Posted: 6/3/09 at 7:19am
Sorry but i thought BoyFromOz and Somethinwicked would stay on top of it so i had a night off and went to bed.....but alas, they did not post them, they must now hang their heads in shame lol
I knew the reviews would be like this, the critics seem to be done with Film to stage adaptations here now which makes me worry for Legally Blonde.
I knew the reviews would be like this, the critics seem to be done with Film to stage adaptations here now which makes me worry for Legally Blonde.
Namo i love u but we get it already....you don't like Madonna
#35
Posted: 6/3/09 at 7:19am
Not bad reviews... all in favour of Patina being wonderful.
I think the show has lengthy run (2-3yrs) in sight but not at the Palladium. I can see them closing Hairspray next year and transfering Sister Act to the Shaftesbury
I think the show has lengthy run (2-3yrs) in sight but not at the Palladium. I can see them closing Hairspray next year and transfering Sister Act to the Shaftesbury
#36
Posted: 6/3/09 at 7:20am
Whats On Stage - Mixed 3 stars
t?s good but not great, diverting not divine. The best thing about Sister Act is the leading lady, the number one nun Deloris van Cartier, played by Patina Miller with personality to burn and a smile as wide as Wembley Stadium.
The story of the 1992 movie has been flattened out to provide minimal conflict between Deloris, the nun on the run from her career as a lounge singer after witnessing a murder, and the starchy mother superior of Shelia Hancock, who is raring to reggae and wobble her wimple.
The joyous surprise of the Motown movie score is replaced by a jobbing funk and disco playlist by Disney and Little Shop composer Alan Menken with so-so lyrics by Glenn Slater (working with Andrew Lloyd Webber on the new Phantom) and a book by Cheri and Bill Steinkellner (they produced and wrote some of Cheers) that makes The Sound of Music look like Noel Coward.
It?s a one-trick pony, this show, with nowhere special to go once the nuns have shown they can get down on the dance floor as soon as get down on their knees, and Anthony van Laast?s choreography has them leaping about like electrified penguins almost from the curtain-up.
The setting has been moved from the 1990s back to 1978, and from San Francisco and Reno to Philadelphia, so that Deloris? killer boyfriend is no longer a Mafioso but Curtis Shank (all big wigs, bling and bad attitude in Chris Jarman?s performance), a drug-dealing Afro-American hood straight out of Shaft, with one of his stooges cleverly done by Nicolas Colicos as an equal mixture of niftiness and gormlessness.
There?s little sense of the show regenerating the parish life of the community, and Ian Lavender?s vague and silly monsignor isn?t a patch on Joseph Maher in the movie, though there?s a fairly funny pay-off when the white-robed pontiff rises from the orchestra pit and Julia Sutton?s Sister Mary Lazarus comes bopping back from the dead.
Peter Schneider?s production maintains a fizzing energy that is slightly too exhausting for comfort, and the sound system is wonky. But songs like ?Take Me to Heaven,? ?Bless Our Show? and ?Spread the Love Around? will send audiences home happy enough, if not rushing back to buy the album; there?s little that?s truly memorable beyond Miller?s magnificence.
- Michael Coveney
t?s good but not great, diverting not divine. The best thing about Sister Act is the leading lady, the number one nun Deloris van Cartier, played by Patina Miller with personality to burn and a smile as wide as Wembley Stadium.
The story of the 1992 movie has been flattened out to provide minimal conflict between Deloris, the nun on the run from her career as a lounge singer after witnessing a murder, and the starchy mother superior of Shelia Hancock, who is raring to reggae and wobble her wimple.
The joyous surprise of the Motown movie score is replaced by a jobbing funk and disco playlist by Disney and Little Shop composer Alan Menken with so-so lyrics by Glenn Slater (working with Andrew Lloyd Webber on the new Phantom) and a book by Cheri and Bill Steinkellner (they produced and wrote some of Cheers) that makes The Sound of Music look like Noel Coward.
It?s a one-trick pony, this show, with nowhere special to go once the nuns have shown they can get down on the dance floor as soon as get down on their knees, and Anthony van Laast?s choreography has them leaping about like electrified penguins almost from the curtain-up.
The setting has been moved from the 1990s back to 1978, and from San Francisco and Reno to Philadelphia, so that Deloris? killer boyfriend is no longer a Mafioso but Curtis Shank (all big wigs, bling and bad attitude in Chris Jarman?s performance), a drug-dealing Afro-American hood straight out of Shaft, with one of his stooges cleverly done by Nicolas Colicos as an equal mixture of niftiness and gormlessness.
There?s little sense of the show regenerating the parish life of the community, and Ian Lavender?s vague and silly monsignor isn?t a patch on Joseph Maher in the movie, though there?s a fairly funny pay-off when the white-robed pontiff rises from the orchestra pit and Julia Sutton?s Sister Mary Lazarus comes bopping back from the dead.
Peter Schneider?s production maintains a fizzing energy that is slightly too exhausting for comfort, and the sound system is wonky. But songs like ?Take Me to Heaven,? ?Bless Our Show? and ?Spread the Love Around? will send audiences home happy enough, if not rushing back to buy the album; there?s little that?s truly memorable beyond Miller?s magnificence.
- Michael Coveney
Namo i love u but we get it already....you don't like Madonna
#37
Posted: 6/3/09 at 7:22am
how long would people on here who seen the show say it will run for
Also: Is the programme on sale yet?
Also: Is the programme on sale yet?
''With the number of people I ignore, I'm lucky I work at all in this town'' - Helena Bonham Carter
#38
Posted: 6/3/09 at 7:22am
The Stage - Mixed to Positive
Having dodged the crowds staring at the sight of nuns abseiling down the front of the London Palladium, it was time to check out if this musical version of Sister Act had the same ingredients of comedy and pathos that the original 1992 hit film had in abundance.
The answer is that it has oodles of the former, delivered with huge energy and pace, with scene after scene leaving a permanent smile on many an audience member?s face. In contrast, what is neglected is a convincing portrayal of lounge singer Deloris Van Cartier?s spiritual journey from selfish disco diva to Sister Mary Clarence, a proud member of a sisterhood she loves and believes in. Hence, the rather severe Mother Superior?s softening towards her new and unexpected charge seems somewhat rushed and might be better if introduced more gradually.
But these are relatively small criticisms when Sister Act is a welcome addition to the West End. For a start, the casting is inspired. Making her West End debut, sexy, assured and phenomenally talented American actress Patina Miller gives a show-stopping performance as Deloris (hiding in the convent from her murdering gangster boyfriend Shank). But it is also worth pointing out that several other members of the ensemble are equally impressive during their designated musical numbers.
A particular case in point is ?Sweaty? Eddie (Ako Mitchell) singing I Could Be That Guy and fantasising about being the type of man Deloris will fall for. As well as being a highlight of the evening, this sequence showcases how imaginative director Peter Schneider can be when integrating comedy and song. On another occasion, Shank describes how he and his cronies are going to kill Deloris when they find her, a perfect example of black humour meets Motown.
Alongside the writers, including of course composer Alan Menken and lyricist Glenn Slater, Schneider, choreographer Anthony Van Laast and set designer Klara Zieglerova perfectly recreate the era of disco with dollops of raunchy soul and uplifting gospel thrown in for good measure.
The final plaudits must go to the nuns themselves who are in exceptionally fine voice and are loving every minute of their shenanigans. In this respect Katie Rowley Jones, Claire Greenway, sizzling senior citizen Julia Sutton and the excellent Sheila Hancock?s brooding Mother Superior all deserve a special mention.
If your taste in musicals veers towards hijinks rather than high art, then get thee to a nunnery because Sister Act?s arrival in the West End comes highly recommended.
Having dodged the crowds staring at the sight of nuns abseiling down the front of the London Palladium, it was time to check out if this musical version of Sister Act had the same ingredients of comedy and pathos that the original 1992 hit film had in abundance.
The answer is that it has oodles of the former, delivered with huge energy and pace, with scene after scene leaving a permanent smile on many an audience member?s face. In contrast, what is neglected is a convincing portrayal of lounge singer Deloris Van Cartier?s spiritual journey from selfish disco diva to Sister Mary Clarence, a proud member of a sisterhood she loves and believes in. Hence, the rather severe Mother Superior?s softening towards her new and unexpected charge seems somewhat rushed and might be better if introduced more gradually.
But these are relatively small criticisms when Sister Act is a welcome addition to the West End. For a start, the casting is inspired. Making her West End debut, sexy, assured and phenomenally talented American actress Patina Miller gives a show-stopping performance as Deloris (hiding in the convent from her murdering gangster boyfriend Shank). But it is also worth pointing out that several other members of the ensemble are equally impressive during their designated musical numbers.
A particular case in point is ?Sweaty? Eddie (Ako Mitchell) singing I Could Be That Guy and fantasising about being the type of man Deloris will fall for. As well as being a highlight of the evening, this sequence showcases how imaginative director Peter Schneider can be when integrating comedy and song. On another occasion, Shank describes how he and his cronies are going to kill Deloris when they find her, a perfect example of black humour meets Motown.
Alongside the writers, including of course composer Alan Menken and lyricist Glenn Slater, Schneider, choreographer Anthony Van Laast and set designer Klara Zieglerova perfectly recreate the era of disco with dollops of raunchy soul and uplifting gospel thrown in for good measure.
The final plaudits must go to the nuns themselves who are in exceptionally fine voice and are loving every minute of their shenanigans. In this respect Katie Rowley Jones, Claire Greenway, sizzling senior citizen Julia Sutton and the excellent Sheila Hancock?s brooding Mother Superior all deserve a special mention.
If your taste in musicals veers towards hijinks rather than high art, then get thee to a nunnery because Sister Act?s arrival in the West End comes highly recommended.
Namo i love u but we get it already....you don't like Madonna
#39
Posted: 6/3/09 at 7:23am
In my comment above I nearly wrote that I think i would have enjoyed it more in a smaller house.
I simply ADORE The Palladium but, though its not a barn, it can and does swallow up some shows.
It will run at the Palladium but its too big to get transfered.
I simply ADORE The Palladium but, though its not a barn, it can and does swallow up some shows.
It will run at the Palladium but its too big to get transfered.
#40
Posted: 6/3/09 at 7:26am
i'm seeing it in 2 weeks, but everyone i know who has seen it has loved it, including yourself mama.
We're in a recession... in my opinion the last thing we need is a huge intellectual hard hitting musical, it just adds to people's fears. hence why we're getting priscilla, sister act etc... its just what we need in this country right now if you ask me.
and I for one cannot wait to see it!
I agree with you though mama, I don't think it will last at the palladium... i think they will move it somewhere smaller if its still selling next year, but where I do not know.
And SADM2 no-one does reviews like you... as Carly sings: 'nobody does it better'
We're in a recession... in my opinion the last thing we need is a huge intellectual hard hitting musical, it just adds to people's fears. hence why we're getting priscilla, sister act etc... its just what we need in this country right now if you ask me.
and I for one cannot wait to see it!
I agree with you though mama, I don't think it will last at the palladium... i think they will move it somewhere smaller if its still selling next year, but where I do not know.
And SADM2 no-one does reviews like you... as Carly sings: 'nobody does it better'
"Lateness is a choice" - Sir Trevor Nunn
#41
Posted: 6/3/09 at 7:29am
lolol tommyslim
I think the paladium is a barn of a theatre for some shows where they do get lost, its a lot like the Palace on Broadway, Legally Blonde was swallowed up in there. I think LB would have had a much longer run in a smaller house and i think Sister Act would to.
I think the paladium is a barn of a theatre for some shows where they do get lost, its a lot like the Palace on Broadway, Legally Blonde was swallowed up in there. I think LB would have had a much longer run in a smaller house and i think Sister Act would to.
Namo i love u but we get it already....you don't like Madonna
#42
Posted: 6/3/09 at 7:30am
I actually thought it could get downsized.. completely new sets though so could be costly!
I agree with you Mama, would have enjoyed it much more at smaller venue and it would have cured some of the critical reception of it being over sized.
The show to run a lengthy time there just isn't very "palladium" - long runners there are generally classics/family type shows.
I agree with you Mama, would have enjoyed it much more at smaller venue and it would have cured some of the critical reception of it being over sized.
The show to run a lengthy time there just isn't very "palladium" - long runners there are generally classics/family type shows.
#43
Posted: 6/3/09 at 7:37am
So far here is the round up
Negative
The Gaurdian
The Mail
Mixed
The Times
Whats On Stage
The Stage
Positive to Raves
Broadway World
Eviening Standard
Telegraph
Negative
The Gaurdian
The Mail
Mixed
The Times
Whats On Stage
The Stage
Positive to Raves
Broadway World
Eviening Standard
Telegraph
Namo i love u but we get it already....you don't like Madonna
Updated On: 6/3/09 at 07:37 AM
#44
Posted: 6/3/09 at 7:52am
#45
Posted: 6/3/09 at 8:56am
Michael Billington and quentin Letts, my two favourite reviewers, which i have mentioned on here before, both need to take a chill pill!
#46
Posted: 6/3/09 at 8:58am
Letts needs to get back to his 'real' job!
#47
Posted: 6/3/09 at 6:44pm
#48
Posted: 6/3/09 at 7:14pm
Indipendent - Mixed
Those wacky old nuns on Wimple Street are leaping about like nobody's business, as if this theatre's previous incumbents in The Sound of Music had been given a blessing to boogie. How do you solve a problem called Deloris, the lounge singer who's witnessed a killing? You camouflage her in a convent and round up the bad guys by flushing 'em out in a fit of funk.
The movie was a delightful surprise with its spiritual stand off between Whoopi Goldberg as Deloris and Maggie Smith as the mother superior, and a parish community was regenerated by the success of the new nuns' choir.
There's no such thing as restraint anywhere in Peter Schneider's production, which replaces the Motown movie score with a new disco-dancing song list by Disney composer Alan Menken that sounds like Saturday Night Fever crossed with the brown sugar theme tune from Shaft.
Physical momentum in the movie betrayed the model of this story's real inspiration, Billy Wilder's Some Like it Hot, here misinterpreted as "Nuns Miked on Heat". The nuns carry on as if transported to Studio 54, and Klara Zieglerova's set, dominated by a huge Madonna and surrounded by super stained glass windows, becomes a glitter-ball paradise while Lez Brotherston's costumes break out into a rash of twinkly stardust.
Trouble is, there's no starchiness before the starriness, though one can hardly complain along those lines with Patina Miller's gorgeous occupation of the Whoopi Goldberg role: this unknown 24-year-old from South Carolina is the real deal, a genuine new star, oozing confidence and sex appeal like it was going out of fashion.
Whereas Whoopi was down and dirty, Patina is a shimmering sheen of Diana Ross meets Barbra Streisand and she transmits enough electricity to power the whole of Regent Street for a year. No wonder Sheila Hancock as the mother superior caves in the minute she walks through the door.
Menken's music comes with some non-committal lyrics by Glenn Slater, and a script by the married Cheers team of Cheri and Bill Steinkellner that does its job without sticking around to be clever or funny.
Chris Jarman, Nicolas Colicos and Ivan de Freitas are three stooges as the drug-dealing hoodlums, while Ian Lavender and Julia Sutton chip in with cameos as the monsignor and the old convent habitué.
One shouldn't complain about any "original" musical score in the West End, but there's nothing really refreshingly new here even if you might feel like brushing down your John Travolta poses when you get home. "Sunday Morning Fever" is a better song title than song, but there are some noisy, driving pop anthems that make you wish you weren't in a theatre; it's show time, not musical theatre magic.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/reviews/sister-act-palladium-london-1696263.html
Those wacky old nuns on Wimple Street are leaping about like nobody's business, as if this theatre's previous incumbents in The Sound of Music had been given a blessing to boogie. How do you solve a problem called Deloris, the lounge singer who's witnessed a killing? You camouflage her in a convent and round up the bad guys by flushing 'em out in a fit of funk.
The movie was a delightful surprise with its spiritual stand off between Whoopi Goldberg as Deloris and Maggie Smith as the mother superior, and a parish community was regenerated by the success of the new nuns' choir.
There's no such thing as restraint anywhere in Peter Schneider's production, which replaces the Motown movie score with a new disco-dancing song list by Disney composer Alan Menken that sounds like Saturday Night Fever crossed with the brown sugar theme tune from Shaft.
Physical momentum in the movie betrayed the model of this story's real inspiration, Billy Wilder's Some Like it Hot, here misinterpreted as "Nuns Miked on Heat". The nuns carry on as if transported to Studio 54, and Klara Zieglerova's set, dominated by a huge Madonna and surrounded by super stained glass windows, becomes a glitter-ball paradise while Lez Brotherston's costumes break out into a rash of twinkly stardust.
Trouble is, there's no starchiness before the starriness, though one can hardly complain along those lines with Patina Miller's gorgeous occupation of the Whoopi Goldberg role: this unknown 24-year-old from South Carolina is the real deal, a genuine new star, oozing confidence and sex appeal like it was going out of fashion.
Whereas Whoopi was down and dirty, Patina is a shimmering sheen of Diana Ross meets Barbra Streisand and she transmits enough electricity to power the whole of Regent Street for a year. No wonder Sheila Hancock as the mother superior caves in the minute she walks through the door.
Menken's music comes with some non-committal lyrics by Glenn Slater, and a script by the married Cheers team of Cheri and Bill Steinkellner that does its job without sticking around to be clever or funny.
Chris Jarman, Nicolas Colicos and Ivan de Freitas are three stooges as the drug-dealing hoodlums, while Ian Lavender and Julia Sutton chip in with cameos as the monsignor and the old convent habitué.
One shouldn't complain about any "original" musical score in the West End, but there's nothing really refreshingly new here even if you might feel like brushing down your John Travolta poses when you get home. "Sunday Morning Fever" is a better song title than song, but there are some noisy, driving pop anthems that make you wish you weren't in a theatre; it's show time, not musical theatre magic.
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/reviews/sister-act-palladium-london-1696263.html
Namo i love u but we get it already....you don't like Madonna
#49
Posted: 6/3/09 at 7:38pm
Here's an interesting one from Variety
http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117940405.html?categoryid=33&cs=1&ref=ssp
http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117940405.html?categoryid=33&cs=1&ref=ssp
#50
Posted: 6/3/09 at 8:28pm
These reviews are practically a mirror image of those PRISCILLA received.
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Tickets From $59
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Tickets From $59
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