"Sister Act Jr" by Attic Theatre School.

Nottingham Arts Theatre.

This is my first production by Attic Theatre School, and my what a talented bunch of people they are; I would have loved to have seen them perform the whole musical, but this seventy-minute taster has definitely whet my appetite for more from this West Bridgford based group.

"Sister Act", which is based on the film of the same name and starred Whoopi Goldberg is all about Deloris, a club singer in the 1970's trying to make it big in her boyfriend Curtis's club. She sees Curtis kill one of his henchmen and reports it to the police, who just happens to be her old college mate "Sweaty" Eddie. Eddie has the idea of hiding her among a convent of nuns until the court date.

This is a whole culture shock for Deloris, so to keep her out of trouble, Mother Superior puts her in charge of the choir, who's singing aptitude is described by Mother Superior as "having no words" to describe them. With Deloris' help they are transformed into a choir Gareth Malone would be proud of and by doing so saves the nunnery from being closed down. Curtis and his friends in the meantime though are determined to find Deloris and intend to make sure that she doesn't tell anyone else about what she had seen...ever!

Having seen this musical several times you could see which parts were omitted, but if you were new to the musical, the show on stage last Saturday and Sunday was seamlessly put together with edited versions of the songs performed.

Attic also shared some of the roles with different actors, so that everyone could get to perform in this heavenly musical. It's a good job that Director Amanda Grimsey pointed this out to me as I thought that my concentration levels had dipped and was getting a bit confused in my old age!

Deloris was played by both Evie Cockram and Lily Essex, both had stage presence and what a great pair of voices. Take Me To Heaven... yes they did. Fabulous Baby...yes they were.

Tina was played by Jessica Sims, Nina by Mya Matthews, Elle by Lily Cockram and Michelle by Ellie Adey.

Curtis, the nasty boyfriend and mobster, was played with devilish delight by both Joe Grainge and Oscar Haines.

Curtis' henchmen Joey, played by Megan Wilson and Isaac McLeod, TJ by Charlie Fish and Pablo by Elai Aydinbas. The section where they are chasing the nuns, trying to get to Deloris was wonderfully comical.

Evan Del Gaudio plays Ernie, who is dispatched early on for allegedly grassing on Curtis to the cops.

Officer "Sweaty" Eddie Souther is played by Jack Forth. Lovely characterisation of the policeman who has dreams of being "that guy", and what a lovely tone to his singing voice.

Abigail Brogan plays a cop at the police station.

Mother Superior is another role shared by two more marvellous young actors, Amy Woodcock and Sinead Trendowicz.

Monsignor O' Hara is played by Thomas Star, who has the right surname because from watching Thomas perform in this character filled, fun role, this young man is a star in the making. 

Sister Mary Patrick's role is shared by Anna Clay and Alexandra Jones.

Sister Mary Roberts is played by Scarlett Hobbs, who gave a very tender version of "The Life I Never Led". Georgia Reid played Mary Roberts on Saturday.

Sister Mary Lazarus is played by both Emelia Beatham and Ella Brennan. Both actors giving exceptional and fun portrayals of this particular sister.

The Sisters Mary Martin-of-Tours was played by Mya Matthews, Mary Celeste was played by Helena Cave, Mary Irene was played by Izzy Burrows, Mary Stephen was played by Ellie Adey and Mary Theresa was played Jessica Sims.

The Newscaster was played by Henry Pavier.

The Altar Boys are played by Attic's Inter Boys, the Nuns are played by the Inter and Senior Girls and the Street People are played by Inter and Senior Girls.

Directed by Abigayle Hames and Amanda Grimsey, they kept the pace of this show going at a marvellous pace without compromising the storyline one iota, still retaining all the fun elements of the full-blown musical. 

Musical Directors are Elise Fairley and Emily Knight, and they have done a wonderful job with the vocals within this cast; there's not one bad voice in this cast. ballads like "The Life I Never Led", sung by Mary Robert and "Sister Act" retained the tenderness, and the sleazy "Lady In the Long Black Dress", although edited to about a third of its' original length, still hit the spot. The cast also dealt well with the up-tempo 70's style disco numbers, complemented by some lovely retro styled lighting, complete with mirror ball.

Great costumes and wigs really brought that 1970's feel to the stage with plenty of glitter and sequins.

The choreography was also brilliant, and by the looks of it the cast seems to have enjoyed learning and performing some of the classic retro dance moves.

Sound wise, it was perfect; I heard every word spoken and sung, and I was sat at the back of the theatre.

With never having experienced anything by Attic Theatre School before, but being aware of their solid reputation, I had no preconceptions of what I was about to see on Sunday afternoon, but what I did see and hear has now cemented their reputation as a class act with me. 

Some of the cast on stage were performing their last roles with Attic as they had reached the age where they had to move on, so by the end it was quite an emotional curtain call, but I really do hope that we see some of this older cast go on to perform with some of the local theatre groups, or even better, go on to have a career down South.

"Sister Act Jr" was performed by the Attic Theatre School last Saturday and Sunday at the Nottingham Arts Theatre.