SISTER ACT - The ANTI- First Wives Club

[Pgenre]

Posted: 7/31/09 at 12:44am

SISTER ACT possesses one of the strongest scores I have heard in years. This is the best R&B score since DREAMGIRLS. Menken has TRULY outdone himself and I have never heard such exciting, ebulliant, effervescent music from his pen. This show truly does LITTLE SHOP one better in not only every dramatic way, but also in Menken's almost uncanny adeptness at pastiche for this period.

This is the best score Menken has written, and that is saying a lot. Slater seems to have gotten THE BEST from not only Menken, but ALW with whom he wrote the forthcoming LOVE NEVER DIES. I'm sure neither Menken or ALW would think they would create their true masterpiece scores nearly 30 years after their first, most notable, successes. "Long Black Dress" has some of the best lyrics this side of Porter. Really, I mean it.

There are moments in this show that seem to be EVERYTHING FWC is trying to be - that is: fun, witty, entertaining, emotional and exciting with a little pathos and familiarity sprinkled in from the film as a way "in" for the audience. And who would think a show about showgirls and nuns would be more empowering to women than one about women who get back at their philandering husbands and open an abused womens' clinic? No, I haven't heard the complete FWC score - and I don't want or need to (at least not for the RIGHT reasons, lol). What's out there is enough. For me.

Menken, faced with the IMPOSSIBLE challenge of improving upon Marc Shaiman's absolutely inimitably impressive, memorable and spine-tingling arrangements of the material in the film, somehow invents his own way of making the same impression on the heart and ear (and brain!). He really does. This Act One finale is truly up there with the best of them. And speaking of HAIRSPRAY, I have NOT heard a better crafted, more fun or more melodic score since then. If both this and CATCH ME IF YOU CAN make it to New York this season, Marc and Scott may actually have some competition!

This show is a big fat hit and it deserves ANY success it gets if only because this music and these lyrics are ON FIRE. Number after number, hit after hit. I'm not even being hyperbolic... really. Listen for yourself. It's the most consistently enjoyable and entertaining score for me since HAIRSPRAY or THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK.

Whatever problems this show may have had on its way to Broadway are nowhere to be found on this album. With the exception of a few of the male performers, the cast performs adequately to wonderfully. The males also get some of the best material, or almost equally AMAZING material to the ladies... and Norm Lewis needs to play the lead male role on Broadway to finally win his Tony. He could win with "Lady In the Long Black Dress" alone at his disposal.

"The Life I Led" - Celia Keenan Bolger NEEDS to play this role and sing this magnificent song (with the original high-note ending). "Part of Your World" has nothing on this song. Disney is probably LIVID they didn't get this song! I see now why Beyonce has recorded it (as well as 2 other songs and WANTS the role, but 't'ain't hers... not even close). It's...

...Patina Miller's. Patina Miller. 4 letters: S-T-A-R. Beyonce who?

"Take Me To Heaven"? I'm there.

P


Updated On: 7/31/09 at 12:44 AM

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 7/31/09 at 2:10am

It's coming next season.

And was there really much competition in the R&B score category since Dreamgirls?

[mywonderwa11]

Posted: 7/31/09 at 2:14am

I canNOT stop listening to this cast recording. Simply amazing.

[TheatreDork2]

Posted: 7/31/09 at 2:16am

I concur with you all.

[broadwaybelter]

Posted: 7/31/09 at 2:35am

The score is "fabulous baby--fresh, free, fabulous Baby--wait and seeeeeee!". That confirms it--I'm a dork.

[blaxx]

Posted: 7/31/09 at 2:55am

Did Brantley hate it? I forget.

[ljay889]

Posted: 7/31/09 at 3:03am

It all feels woefully secondhand, despite those phalanxes of brightly robed, twirling nuns, urged to ?shake it like you?re Mary Magdalene,? led by an earnest Patina Miller in the Goldberg role. - Brantley

[ljay889]

Posted: 7/31/09 at 3:03am

. Updated On: 7/31/09 at 03:03 AM

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 7/31/09 at 3:03am

Do the tourists really care what Brantley thinks? They didn't give a sh*t about what he thought of Wicked.

[ljay889]

Posted: 7/31/09 at 3:04am

Brantley sure killed 9 to 5.

[blaxx]

Posted: 7/31/09 at 4:06am

Plus, he didn't really pan Wicked, and that might have been the exception. I still think that his reviews have some weight.

[AnythingGoes2]

Posted: 7/31/09 at 4:21am

The Cast CD (i.e the music) out does the production as a whole.

It needs a lot more direction, tightening up and a smaller stage.

[Mark_E]

Posted: 7/31/09 at 6:56am

I'll agree the lyrics in Sister Act are great. Loving How I Got The Calling.

[jamiekennywicked]

Posted: 7/31/09 at 7:00am

I love 'SUNDAY MORNING FEVER' so much

[fairygodmother]

Posted: 7/31/09 at 7:11am

People keep bring ing up the original high note ending for Life I Never Led. Don't assume that its not in there because Katie Rowley Jones couldn't sing it - as you can hear from the reprise, she can. Its a much more fitting end for the original version of the song - to keep it feeling unresolved, because the character is unresolved - saving the larger ending for when she gets her moment of strength, which makes it much more powerful.

[ray-andallthatjazz86]

Posted: 7/31/09 at 10:33am

It's a wonderful score! It's definitely one of my favorite new cast recordings. It's just so vibrant with energy and unlike every other film-to-musical adaptation it actually manages to capture the same excitement and quality from the film. Patina Miller is a star, there's no other way to put it. When she sings the lyrics "I am fabulous baby!" you can't help but wholeheartedly agree. What brilliance. It's interesting to know that she was one of the finalists for Effie in the DREAMGIRLS movie as her voice reminds me of Jennifer Hudson's at times. Still, Patina IS Deloris, without doing the kind of second rate imitation from the original that the likes of Laura Bell Bundy or Megan Hilty couldn't keep themselves from doing in their respective shows.
The thing with Brantley is that--at least in terms of score--he was right about 9 TO 5. I don't think he's right about SISTER ACT, and I must certainly hope that once he sits down to write a detailed review instead of a couple sentence-blurb, he'll give credit where credit is due.
"Take Me to Heaven" and its great Reprise are great numbers and they don't make me miss the original numbers from the film. "Fabulous Baby!" is one of my favorite showtunes now. "The Life I Never Led" is quite fun to listen to though it's hard not to think of "Part of Your World" when listening to it. And "How I Got the Calling" is incredibly adorable, does a great job at musicalizing that scene from the movie AND it reveals new things about the plot, it's exactly what a musical number should do; I love the ending with Patina's solo, it's hilarious, she is hilarious. My only quibbles are the male songs (which I've heard work better at the actual theatre) and that the song "Bless Our Show" is basically "Be Our Guest."

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 7/31/09 at 3:15pm

I really like the cast recording. Everyone sounds fantastic and the orchestrations are knockout. The score is fun and entertaining but its not like its anything groundbreaking...it has a been there, done that feel about it but it's still more than serviceable.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 7/31/09 at 4:19pm

I know when it started, I was adamantly against it, but it's grown on me...a lot.

I still think it needs work, based on the CR, Delores seems far too selfish, and some of it needs tightening.

I also don't agree that this is the best R&B score since "Dreamgirls." I personally think it sounds more like a mix of "Dreamgirls" (The disco feel) and "The Color Purple" (sweeping ballads)

I will also say, Slater has improved as a lyricist.

[philly03]

Posted: 7/31/09 at 4:34pm

While I wouldn't necessarily jump the gun and call it Menken's BEST score, I'm really liking it too. Also agreed with all the comments at how Slater is becoming a better lyricist, or in nearly most of the songs.

[HollyGolightly2]

Posted: 7/31/09 at 4:36pm

Menken has never written a song I didn't like.

Okay, well. I'm sure I can think of one or two, but he certainly has a higher success rate with me than other composers.

[Pgenre]

Posted: 7/31/09 at 7:27pm

OK, I officially need to go to cast album rehab...

... this is an ADDICTION.

But instead of Dr. Drew, Cast Album Rehab has... Dr.Stew?

Is it possible to OD on a CD?

If it is... at least I'll go straight to heaven!

P

[GYPSY1527]

Posted: 8/3/09 at 7:11pm

Beautiful quality score! I adore it and cannot wait until it crosses the pond. Patina is perfect on the cast recording and I am really enjoying Sheila.

From the score, it sounds exactly how a feel-good Broadway musical should be! By the way, I agree with you ray about how the score moves the story forward and adds new plot twists. I adore the back story with Sister Mary Robert, she's been my favorite since I saw the film.

[obsessedjb]

Posted: 8/6/09 at 11:33pm

just got the cd in the mail today and I am loving it!

[scaryclowns2232]

Posted: 8/7/09 at 12:42am

I agree with the poster who said the music outshines the actual production- the show is good, but the music is the best part. The book is weak, and the direction was, in most instances, terrible. A tighter focus on acting, and it could work.

But the music is fantastic- so much fun.

[Pgenre]

Posted: 8/7/09 at 12:54am

I basically haven't stopped listening to this cd since I originally posted on 7/31.

What a winner!

About time someone wrote a decent score... it's been way too long! (NEXT TO NORMAL might be good... but it ain't ANY fun)

P