Sister Act Live Choir, Birmingham Symphony Hall - review

It’s not because I’ve had no interest, on the contrary, it had always just been sat on my ‘to watch’ list without reaching the top.

So if you like, I was very much ‘going in blind’ to this experience. But this maybe made it all the more worthwhile.

We started off with a foot-stomping gospel mash-up from BGT semi-finalists Gospel Singers Incognito (GSI) which Wolves fans would have enjoyed due to the inclusion of Earth, Wind & Fire’s September - which has spawned that all-engrossing Ivan Cavaleiro chant.

And from then we were thrust into the film. To keep it brief, Whoopi Goldberg’s sassy Deloris Van Cartier is a club and casino singer who sees her no-good boyfriend, hammed along playfully by Harvey Keitel, commit a murder.

She goes on the run as his henchmen give chase, and after reaching the safety of the local police they put her in witness protection in a convent where she soon takes responsibility for the choir.

It’s good fun as the story ensues, and though you can guess the twists and turns it makes it no less enjoyable.

The assorted nuns, particularly the choir members, are the stars of the show. And while on-screen we have Kathy Najimy, Wendy Makenna and Mary Wickes stealing all the laughs, on-stage before us we had the Uplifted Voices choir raising the roof. Sort of.

First half in particular, it was quite difficult to hear them. Whether it was a technical fault or not it kind of detracted a little from the punch the songs are supposed to give you. And a cue was missed in one, meaning the film had to be paused mid-song so the choir could catch up.

Second half, though, a lot of this had been cleared up and they could really sing – especially the soloists. The issue then was, they didn’t really have too much opportunity to show us what they could do. There are actually fewer songs in this movie than you would think, meaning for large parts they sat there more motionless than their rib-tickled audience.

It is quite possible that say, a Les Mis or Mamma Mia! chock-full of hits, would lend itself perfectly to this set-up. But there is actually quite a chunk of dialogue here which, while a brilliantly funny movie, means that a lot of the audience had really paid around £20-odd for a trip to the cinema.