Musical answers our prayers

Sister Act, Opera House, Manchester

IT’S a divine triumph! This stunning, flamboyant show raised the roof with great songs, superb voices, brilliant casting and clever scripting.

Shifting easily from screen to stage, perhaps the secret of its success was partly down to having as one of its producers Whoopi Goldberg — who starred in the original film as Deloris Van Cartier, forced into disguise as a nun to hide from her gangster boyfriend, who is out to silence her after she witnesses a murder.

The two hours on stage passed in a flash as this fabulous, fast-moving, feelgood show offered five-star entertainment throughout.

There wasn’t one weak link in the cast, with many performances being all you could pray for.

Cynthia Erivo was faultless as Deloris Van Cartier, with her infectious enthusiasm to turn the tuneless, lifeless religious singers into all-singing, all-dancing, all-round entertainers.

Denise Black was fabulous as the disapproving Mother Superior, driven to her wits’ end by the disintegration of all she holds sacred at the hands of Deloris.

And Michael Starke was hilarious as Monsignor O’Hara, delighted with Deloris ringing the changes which filled the pews and saw donations rolling in to save the crumbling church.

Gangster Curtis’s (Cavin Cornwall) three henchmen were very funny, and the ageing Sister Mary Lazarus (Jacqueline Clarke) was superb.

Littered with brilliant one-liners — “The world’s your oyster, When you live in a cloister” being the first to come to mind — “Sister Act” is a delight from start to finish.



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