REVIEW: Truly sensational from Beverley Knight on the Chichester stage

Brilliant music truly sensationally sung is the take-away from Marie and Rosetta, the next chapter in an impressive Minerva season.

In truth, the play itself is uneven, the dialogue occasionally difficult to attune to and too often a little clunky in its “we’re telling you what you need to know” approach. But once the reason for the curiously static set-up is revealed, everything powerfully makes sense, turning on its head a play which for the most part doesn’t seem to be going anywhere terribly fast. Until that ending… Either you will guess from the start where we are or you won’t, and if you don’t, then those closing moments will be all the more striking as we bring to a conclusion our night with Marie and Rosetta.

The Rosetta is, of course, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the roof-raising ‘godmother of rock ‘n’ roll’ who blazed the trail for so many before being largely and sadly forgotten. The Marie is her great singing partner, the now even more obscure Marie Knight, the singer in whom Rosetta saw something incredibly special if only she could learn to swing a little more and leave the church behind.

Beverley Knight is astonishing as Sister Rosetta, her powerhouse vocals tingling spines throughout the house. Just as impressive, maybe even more so, is Ntombizodwa Ndlovu as Marie, a wonderful performance of growing power and confidence as she brings to life the journey she sets out on as Rosetta’s protegee.

But it’s not all easy for Rosetta either. We glimpse the pain and the uncertainty. The slight oddity is that we never see Elvis’ favourite guitarist with a guitar in hand. Opening a guitar case is slightly clumsy as a stand-in – though the musicians we do see are superb. Maybe letting us see more of them would have been the better solution.

So yes, there are faults with the play. But it’s the singing that lingers with you as you leave the theatre, and the more it stays with you, the more you realise you have seen something truly special.