There’s nun better!

SISTER ACT, Opera House, Manchester
AMBASSADOR Theatre Group boss Howard Panter said he was going to put more A-list musicals in his Manchester theatres and they don’t come much higher up the list than this, endorsed by no less a figure than the Pope himself.

Well maybe it’s the Pope: there’s this chap in the pit towards the end and he’s wearing all the right clothes and waving cheerily, anyway. Though he does keep his back to us so I suppose it might not be the actual Pontiff.

But even if it isn’t, Sister Act has the hand of something or someone about it. I was never a big fan of the Whoopi Goldberg movie but this stage musical version is the perfect format for the nun-on-the-run story.

That’s because we get not just the story, but also a running musical gag-set that parodies the musical styles of the “Philly Sound” of the late Seventies, from Barry White (that’ll be Monsignor O’Hara), to the Bee Gees (the main thug’s three henchmen).

As well as neatly tying the sound of the era into the show, the whole thing is a joyful mix of talent both on and off stage.

Denise Black is a redoubtable Mother Superior, Michael Starke an efficient monsignor and above all Cynthia Erivo a terrific Doloris, with a sassy attitude to her incarceration and a fantastic voice.

Put her together with brilliant supporting turns from razor-sharp elderly nun Jacqueline Clarke, novice Julie Atherton and life-enthusiast Laurie Scarth, not to mention male leads Edward Baruwa and Gavin Cornwall, and the result is often both hilarious and thrillingly well put together, with an ensemble working just as hard as the named players.

Behind the scenes the team is the one that brought us the wonderful stage version of Hairspray, with disco-style choreography from Anthony Van Laast, glittery costumes from Lez Brotherston and above all terrific lyrics by Glenn Slater, which often do the exact opposite of what the music implies (a typical four-man disco ballad by the bad guy isn’t about love but about finding and killing Doloris, for example).

The whole package seems effortlessly simple and yet it is clear just how hard everyone is working: the show fires on all cylinders from opening curtain to that brilliant Holy Father-endorsed finale. Pray you catch it while you can.