Sister Act Review

[John Casavant]

Posted: 1/27/07 at 12:36pm

Updated On: 9/2/10 at 12:36 PM

[TWSFan4Ever]

Posted: 1/27/07 at 12:40pm

Are there actual pictures? I'm not seeing any...

[TWSFan4Ever]

Posted: 1/27/07 at 12:41pm

Nevermind, you changed the subject and posted a review

[InfiniteGirl]

Posted: 1/27/07 at 1:34pm

From The Atlantic Constitution-Journal's Wendell Brock, a far more positive assessment:

If you groaned when you heard that “Sister Act” was being turned into a musical, that’s because you were remembering how dumb Hollywood can be.

Fear not, oh, ye of little faith. The creators of “Sister Act: The Musical” have found divine inspiration in the flat-footed 1992 film starring Whoopi Goldberg as a lounge singer-turned-nun on the run.

A world premiere co-production by California’s Pasadena Playhouse and Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre, where it opened Wednesday night, the show is a buoyant reminder of the forgiving nature of musical theater. If its guiding prayer is “Hail Mary, full of bad taste,” therein lies its perpetual charm.

As imagined by composer Alan Menken, lyricist Glenn Slater and book writers Cheri and Bill Steinkellner, the musical is a shamelessly referential ’70s homage-podge that mixes the cloistered quietude of a Catholic order with the trashy vocabulary of blaxploitation, the Day-Glo colors of disco and the groovy sounds of funk, soul and R&B.

Can you say, “Pimp my convent.”

In director Peter Schneider’s raucous reinvention, hard-scrabble singer Deloris Van Cartier (Dawnn Lewis) is not in bed with the Mafia: She’s slung up with a bad, “Superfly”-meets-“Shaft” hybrid named Curtis Shank (Harrison White), whose moral fiber is as dubious as his fashion decisions.

When Deloris witnesses a murder at Curtis’ Funkadelica Downtown Disco, she seeks police protection, and it turns out that the desk sergeant is her old school chum school “Sweaty Eddie” Souther (David Jennings), a proverbial nerd waiting to be transformed into a prince. As you probably know by now, Eddie’s solution is for Deloris to seek asylum in a nunnery, where she ruffles the feathers of the Mother Superior (Elizabeth Ward Land) but wins the sisters’ hearts by injecting the choir with a shot of her “Sunday Morning Fever.”

While the set-up and opening scenes struggle to find their tone — Deloris’ signature athem, “Too Much to Live For,” is more flashy than poignant but later gains power as a reprise — the show takes off the minute Lewis puts on her habit and becomes Sister Mary Clarence. With her face encased in white, every eyebrow wiggle of her sinfully rubbery mug takes on the heightened scale of comedic genius.

Land, whose presence recalls both Katharine Hepburn and Broadway’s Cherry Jones, carries herself regally and sings beautifully. Her song, “A Simple Life,” is a lovely, luminous meditation on the serenity of following the canonical hours — quite a counterpoint to Deloris’ seedy predispostion.

In this clashing world of hustlers and hallelujahs, the Steinkellners excel in sculpting vivid characters. In a wonderfully showoff-y part, Amy K. Murray is delightful as the bubbly, plus-size Sister Mary Patrick, providing evidence that nuns just wanna have fun. Audrie Neenan, who played Aunt Eller in Trevor Nunn’s “Oklahoma!” on Broadway, is superb as the croaky Sister Mary Lazarus. (Keep an eye out for her cameo turn as a jive-spouting elder rapper.) And Jennings’ Eddie, unlike his film counterpart, has a fully shaped comic personality. (Notice how his smoky, Luther Vandross-style “I Could Be That Guy” starts out intentionally stiff and turns into a soulful awakening.)

Costume designer Garry Lennon has a lot of fun yukking up the gangsta duds and glamming up Deloris’ sequins and spangles, and scenic designer David Potts contributes a simple structure of steel-framed flying buttresses and Gothic windows that fly in and out as appropriate.

But sometimes, the intense lighting (by Donald Holder) and garish costumes clash so brightly that they are hard on the eyes. Have a pair of shades ready for the final number, “Mirror Ball,” a vocal lowpoint that likens the many facets of God to that catch-all emblem of the dance-driven ’70s.

Though “Sister Act” is well over 2 1/2 hours, it’s so much fun that it doesn’t feel too long. Still, it could use some trimming: The transitions need focus, and not every song, or character, feels necessary. Right now, the creators seem so in love with the material that they can’t bear to lose a single nun pun or riff on the era.

“Sister Act” is one of those happy occasions in which the makeover is better than the original version. A fantastic premise for a musical comedy, it demonstrates how theater can get away with comedic trangressions that would be unpardonable in other genres. Like Menken’s “The Little Shop of Horrors” and Mel Brooks’ “The Producers” (both based on films, incidentally), “Sister Act” proves that you can be deliberately silly — and smart, too.

If Broadway is its ultimate destination, it’s got much more than a prayer. To miss it here would be a sacrilege.

THE VERDICT: Delicious nunsense.
Updated On: 1/27/07 at 01:34 PM

[Rentaholic2]

Posted: 1/27/07 at 2:52pm

So in the stage production, are any of the songs reworked popular songs, like in the movie? I really loved the performance numbers in the movie, particularly Hail Holy Queen and I Will Follow Him...is there anything like that at all?

[tazber]

Posted: 1/27/07 at 3:01pm

All the songs in the show are original. Nothing from the movie was used. I think I read in Playbill.com's interview with Alan Menken.

[Barnaby12345]

Posted: 1/27/07 at 3:15pm

I still think they should have done "Sister Act 2" instead

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 1/27/07 at 7:59pm

"The main problem, however, with this musical is its complete lack of ability to inspire anyone."

I don't think the "however" in that sentence was neccessary. Just helping you out if you're going to print it in your schools' newspaper.

How were the sets? Was it a Broadway style production or did it feel cheap? I'm wondering if it's worth it to drive 2 1/2 hrs to see it or not. I think it might be a fun night out.

[John Casavant]

Posted: 1/27/07 at 8:21pm

Updated On: 9/2/10 at 08:21 PM

[purpleprince101]

Posted: 1/27/07 at 8:22pm

i want to see it, considering it is one of my favorite movies. i though sister act two was much better though

[phantomCA26]

Posted: 2/16/07 at 12:36am

[phantomCA26]

Posted: 2/16/07 at 12:38am

[phantomCA26]

Posted: 2/16/07 at 12:38am

[phantomCA26]

Posted: 2/16/07 at 12:39am

[phantomCA26]

Posted: 2/16/07 at 12:39am

[phantomCA26]

Posted: 2/16/07 at 12:40am

[phantomCA26]

Posted: 2/16/07 at 12:40am

[phantomCA26]

Posted: 2/16/07 at 12:40am

[phantomCA26]

Posted: 2/16/07 at 12:41am

[phantomCA26]

Posted: 2/16/07 at 12:41am

[mallardo]

Posted: 2/16/07 at 3:17am

IMO the Atlanta newspaper critic got it pretty much right. When I saw it in Pasadena I thought there were some problems with a couple of casting choices but the show worked! Even a Pasadena audience was whooping and hollering at the end. If and when it comes to Broadway I see this as a hit!

[Roninjoey]

Posted: 2/16/07 at 3:31am

Another year, another musical about nuns :P

[MinorAdjustments]

Posted: 2/16/07 at 4:14am

I saw SISTER ACT in Pasadena, and it is absolutely awful in every way. Though the creators are talented people (as evident in their other credits), I'm sad to say this show has a terrible book, lousy, derivative songs, comic-book acting, probably the ugliest set and costumes you'll ever see. It tries to appeal to the lowest common denominator, but I doubt if even children would enjoy it. Badly conceived and directed and in every department. I hope the producers are not stupid enough to bring it to Broadway. But if they are, they'd better re-cast the two leads, Deloris and the Mother Superior. Dawnn Lewis just doesn't have any star quality, though she's competent. The other woman's performance is strictly summer stock. It's an embarrassment.

[DG]

Posted: 2/16/07 at 4:57am

"It's an embarrassment."

Ditto.

Squared.

[mallardo]

Posted: 2/16/07 at 5:03am

It got good reviews in LA and it extended.