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‘Sister Act’ @ the Alliance
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
THEATER REVIEW. Grade: B
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.
THE 411: Through Feb. 25. Alliance Theatre, Woodruff Arts Center, 1280 Peachtree St. N.E., Midtown. 404-733-5000; alliancetheatre.org.
Comments
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By Brian
January 26, 2007 10:42 AM | Link to this
Wow, sounds great. Your opening sentence spoke directly to me and is the first I’ve been aware that it was ok to recognize that the movie was a flabby mess.
By Sarah Smith
January 26, 2007 11:01 AM | Link to this
The nuns were my favorite. Every time they came on stage, they filled the place with joy. More nuns! More nuns! The show was wonderful. I just wanted to know more of their story too.Thanks for a wonderful evening!
By Rosemary
January 29, 2007 7:52 PM | Link to this
Saw it. Loved it. Not for the religious easily offended crowd!
By Kim Hochman
January 29, 2007 9:41 PM | Link to this
Enjoyed every minute. Hilarious fun and very entertaining. The music was awesome. A great nite out.
By Cussandra
February 1, 2007 9:36 PM | Link to this
Great entertainment and there was lots of laughter! ALl who was involved did an excellent job. Way to go!
By Jason Young
February 7, 2007 12:47 AM | Link to this
I saw the show 3 times in Pasadena and it is my all time fave, after Phantom of the Opera of course. Don’t miss this show. It’s pure joy.