Review | SISTERS ARE DOING IT FOR THEMSELVES by The Little Red Company

The Little Red Company's Sisters Are Doing it For Themselves is an uplifting, toe-tapping celebration of female empowerment.

Director Naomi Price and co-creator Adam Brunes clearly understood the assignment. A slice of nostalgia that brings the heat, Sisters Are Doing it For Themselves relives the joy and heat of the Sister Act soundtracks whilst nourishing the soul. As soon as our celestial guides - Prinnie Stevens, Angela Fabian, Irena Lysiuk and Alisha Todd - sing their first note, you immediately feel a sense of lightness and that lightness is only exemplified throughout the performance with every song and dance.

There was funk, there was soul, and there was groove, sprinkled with some sassy remarks about the lack of restrictions for religious gatherings when music and arts festivals are constantly being cancelled. Stevens was the Goddess of Sultry, Fabian was the Goddess of Wow I Didn't Even Know that Note Existed, Todd was the Goddess of Soul and Irena was the Goddess of How Do Those Vocal Pipes Fit In Such A Small Body. They covered all of the famous songs from the soundtrack including My Guy (My God) and I Will Follow Him, supported by an electrifying live band including musicians Mik Easterman, JaZZella , Michael Manikus, and OJ Newcomb. And boy was the band on point.

My favourite part of the show, other than the music of course, were the personal anecdotes that each lead, all reigning from culturally diverse backgrounds and upbringings, shared of how they developed their voice and their identities not only as women, but as performers. It was such a gorgeous, personal touch and it just made the performance even more powerful. It also brought a sense of relatability for a number of us women (and gents) in the audience who have chosen the arts as their career path and reminded us of all of the setbacks that we've experienced and continue to experience.

The recitation of Sister Act 2's famous quote: "Singing does not put food on the table, singing does not pay the bills, singing is no guarantee for a future. There are a lot of people out there singing their shoulda coulda wouldas," really hit hard for me. Harder than I thought it would as it conjured about the image of me sitting across a member of the faculty at my high school at a career counselling meeting. The disappointment of the faculty member's face when I told them that I was pursuing drama school was all I could see. Funny how those things still stay with you after all of those years...

Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves is the best way to spend your Friday night as far as I'm concerned. It'll make you dance and sing and the surprise at the finale is heavenly and honestly, just so much fun. You'll have to go see it yourself to know what I mean...

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Photography by Steph Do Rozario

To post a comment, you must register and login.