“Sister Act”: Still funny after all these years

$33-78. Fox Theater, 660 Peachtree Street, Atlanta. 404-881-2100.

Few people would think to describe “Sister Act” as a love story. But Jerry Zaks, the four-time Tony Award-winning director of the hit Broadway musical which arrives at the Fox Theater next week, insists that’s the secret of its appeal.

The 1992 comedy film starred Whoopi Goldberg as Deloris Van Cartier, a down-on-her-luck lounge singer who goes into hiding in a convent after witnessing a mob murder. The nun’s habit she dons barely covers her sequin-covered soul and she spends more time butting heads with the Mother Superior and teaching her fellow sisters the intricacies of the ’60s Philadelphia sound than laying low.

It’s a fun, classic comedy and as Atlanta audiences discovered when the show played here at the Alliance in 2007 before continuing on its path to London and ultimately Broadway, “Sister Act” makes for a fun, crowd-pleasing musical, too.

But a love story?

“It’s a very unlikely love story,” says Zaks. “By that I mean it’s not a romantic love story, but at its heart, it is a story of two people connecting. I think what the show is telling us is that the differences we think exist between us are much less than what we think they are. It’s about the common humanity between the Mother Superior and Deloris that they discover in the course of the evening.

“Audiences connect to it in the movie and they connect to it with the stage presentation. It’s just a damned good story and I think audiences respond to it.”

The musical runs April 23-28.

The movie itself featured classic hit songs from the Philadelphia sound like “My Guy” and “I Will Follow Him.” Academy Award-winning composer Alan Menken, who wrote the scores for “The Little Mermaid,” “Beauty and the Beast” and “Aladdin,” worked with that ’60s musical palette in creating new songs for the characters in “Sister Act.”

“Philadelphia was a hotbed of musical activity,” says Zaks, “and it had a very unique sound which we wanted to capture. We just thought theatrically it would be a really exciting sound. It’s used to convey a wide range of mood and emotion.”

While Atlanta has a connection to the show because it played here in its pre-Broadway development, Zaks underscores there are still some big surprises waiting for those who saw it six years ago.

“There have been enormous changes to the show,” he says. “Anyone who saw the version that played in Atlanta previously was seeing a very, very early draft. There’s a new book, many new songs have been added and several songs from Atlanta have been discarded. There’s a whole new tone to the piece. People can expect a better story and better story-telling.”

The story may have gotten slicker and more sophisticated on the journey to Broadway, but an overarching challenge remains: Most audience members still associate “Sister Act” with Goldberg.

“People do come into theater expecting the movie,” says Zaks “People have even asked, ‘Is Whoopi in it?’ Whoopi’s characterization was so fantastic.”

But Zaks says that creating a likable and distinctive Deloris is one of the challenges that actress Ta’Rea Campbell, who plays the lead role in the touring production, handles deftly.

“She’s a dynamite actress,” he says. “She’s got the gift of credibility. When she speaks, you just believe her. And she’s got great vocal chops. She’s edgy, she’s complicated and she’s got fantastic musical talent. It makes for a great Deloris.”

Though acting and singing certainly play a part, in the end, it’s humor which Zaks says truly does the trick of bringing a Broadway musical to life.

“I love to laugh,” he says. “The show continues to tickle me. The philosophical notion is very simple. The sound of laughter in the theater for me has always been the sound of an audience falling in love with the characters. That’s why it’s so important to get that first laugh, to let the audience know that they’re going to enjoy the story they’re going to see.

“I think when an audience falls in love with characters, then they care about them when they face problems. Comedy is so hard, but it’s so important.”