Let’s be real – a lot of us should seriously consider going to confession, some more than others. If the thought of walking into a church is enough to give you a heart attack, then KV Players performance of ‘Sister Act’ has you covered. Regardless of what you believe in, you will be out of your seat yelling, “Take Me to Heaven!”
The show opens in a nightclub – seemingly rough beginnings for a musical about a superfluity of nuns – where Deloris Van Cartier (Charlotte Dort) is auditioning to be a musical performer. At end of her opening number the club owner, Curtis (David Hansen) rejects her audition, a double blow give that he’s also her lover. Making matters worse Curtis hands her a consolation prize, a Christmas gift with his wife’s name on it.
Realizing who the gift was intended for Deloris goes to confront Curtis about it. To her surprise, as soon as she opens the backdoor she witnesses Curtis shooting one of his thugs, Ernie (Rob MacPhee), believing that he had snitched to the police. Deloris flees the nightclub and into witness projection where she gets placed in the only building where she can’t smoke in 1970’s Philadelphia … the convent.
‘Sister Act’ is undeniably heartwarming, with the audience watching a church be brought back to life by the power of music – and its more than capable of leaving the audience in stitches through the power of amazingly atrocious singing from the church choir, or even watching as Eddie (CC Humphries) having his costume ripped off twice during the same number.
Each performance was enjoyable, but the scenes of the sisters musical performances steal the show. They were over the top with flashy costumes, large group choreography, and a huge sound; you can tell that there are eighteen powerful voices on stage during these numbers.
Charlotte Dort is convincing in her portrayal of Deloris as hilariously vain and vulgar. Her character comes off as blatantly ignorant and self centred – she tries to light a dart in church, for Christ’s sake! – but through the course of the performance Dort conveys Deloris’s sincere change of heart.
‘Sister Act’ runs from August 9th to 12th at the KVHS theatre. Tickets are available at Kennebecasis Drugs, L’il Shop of Science and the KV Players box office.