Sister Act - New Theatre, 18-29 October

(NB trailer does not feature the cast from this production)


90s San Francisco is swapped for 70s Philadelphia as the musical version of the Whoopi Goldberg film Sister Act comes to Oxford. 

I say musical version of the film, but this is perhaps misleading. The story is the same: A lounge singer, Deloris Van Cartier, witnesses her gangster boyfriend kill someone, so the police hide her in a convent to keep her protected until she can testify against him. Whilst there she teaches the nuns how to sing, they teach her about herself, the Pope gets involved, it’s all very uplifting. Add a bit of extra romance, an entirely new set of songs, and enough glitter to fill St. Paul’s Cathedral, and you’ve got the musical.

I was a little dubious when I heard that none of the songs from the film were going to be used in the musical. They were such a huge part of the film, I couldn’t see how any version of the story could work without them. But the shifting of the setting back to the 1970s is a brilliant move on the adaptors' part. As the film played with well-known motown songs, the musical remarkably achieves the same effect with completely original songs. By basing the new songs on the familiar sounds of 70s funk, soul, and disco, it still sounds like old favourites are being transformed into unexpected songs of religious worship.

The melodious jokes were great, but I did feel that quite a lot of the ‘normal’ jokes fell a bit flat. I didn’t really see the point of the comedy henchmen, but then there were many people in the audience who would have loudly disagreed with me, so I guess it’s just a matter of taste. Also character development was not exactly subtle, but with this kind of high energy romp I imagine that believable character arcs aren’t really a priority.

The cast were all excellent but the highest praise must go to Cynthia Erivo as Deloris, whose voice is amazing and who easily fills the habit left by Whoopi Goldberg.

As long as you don’t go expecting the film directly transposed to the stage, you will not be disappointed. With stained glass disco windows and a song involving the line ‘shake it like Mary Magdalene’, it would be a sin not to enjoy yourself.


Original review here

The Lion King 3D *****/*

The Lion King was one of the first films I saw at the cinema.  I loved it then, and I still love it now.  The Lion King 3D was to be the first 3D film I saw at the cinema.  I thought this lent the experience a pleasing unity (only if it had been Hook, my actual first film at the cinema, could it have been more perfect).  I hadn't really heard anything positive about 3D, which is why I hadn't been before, but you can't write something off without trying it first, can you?

So, along I skipped to the cinema.  I got my 3D glasses.  The oracle of the internet, yahoo!answers, had told me that it was fine to wear them over normal glasses.  This was not true - I had to hold them on so they didn't fall off my nose - but I could cope with that for the sake of an exciting enhanced Lion King experience.

But I did not get an exciting enhanced Lion King experience.  As the film opened on the scenes of the Serenghetti, accompanied by the glorious strains of Circle of Life, as the small children around me gasped with delight, I could only look around in confusion, peer over my multiple glasses to see the blurry screen, and realise with crushing disappointment that I am one of the 2-12% of the population who can't see 3D.

Algernon Charles Swinburne wrote:

If the golden-crested wren
Were a nightingale---why, then,
Something seen and heard of men
Might be half as sweet as when
Laughs a child of seven. 


Well Algernon that is all well and good, but when the child of seven is laughing and you can't see what they're pleased about it's not sweet.  It's just depressing, to be honest.  Stupid children.

I had to keep the ridiculous glasses on because otherwise I was just watching a blurry screen half the time.  So basically I watching a film in the dark whilst wearing sunglasses.  Only for a film as wonderful as The Lion King could I have stayed for the whole thing.

So I don't think I'll be going to see any more 3D films.  And I'll just have to hope that 3D isn't the future, and that it instead goes the way of those magic eye pictures that were so popular in the 90s that I couldn't see either.  What do you mean, look through the image?  Stupid magic eye seers.

I still love The Lion King though, and it was rather special to see it on the big screen again.  And yes I did still cry when Mufasa's big liony face appeared in the sky, even though his nose wasn't sticking out at me and I had too many pairs of glasses on.  Hakuna matata.

Melancholia ***

With Melancholia as a title, and Lars Von Trier as a director, it’s pretty clear that this isn’t going to be a light-hearted romp of a film. It’s an examination of depression and anxiety; it questions the existence of God, and whether there is any good in the world. And it also happens to be a disaster movie in which a massive planet called Melancholia is on its way to destroy the Earth. It is a relief that Bruce Willis isn’t in it really, otherwise would anyone even be able to tell the difference between this and Armageddon? 

The film is split into two parts, one for Justine (Kirsten Dunst) and the other for Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg). In part one, Justine sabotages her own wedding reception at the beautiful home of Claire and her husband (an excellent, and rather different from Jack Bauer, Kiefer Sutherland) in a self-destructive spiral into depression. The feeling of foreboding as the family bickers and we watch everything gradually unravel is superbly managed. In the second part, we see the sisters’ reactions to the looming disaster, as the planet Melancholia comes ever closer. Justine, whose own melancholia has already overcome her, accepts her fate calmly. Claire is terrified.

The strange thing was that I felt the tension of impending doom much more strongly in the ruined wedding day part than in the destruction of the earth part. By the end I just wanted the planet to hurry up and send everyone on their miserable way. The performances were all remarkable, but the difficulty with watching a film populated by emotionally detached people is that I became emotionally detached myself.

Artistically it is a beautiful film. The slow motion opening sequence is stunning, as Justine and Claire feature in a set of images illustrating their melancholia to come – Claire tries to walk but sinks into the ground; Justine floats down a river in her wedding dress; the planet Melancholia slowly travels towards Earth, all to Wagnerian accompaniment. These scenes were moving. However, two and a bit hours later I, like Justine, was looking forward to the release of eternal blackness. Though in my case it was the credits, rather than death, that I was yearning for.


Original review here