Sometimes, It’s Not So Good to Be a Nun

By Jonathan Jones

Thursday, April 14, 2011

The only good thing about Sister Act the musical was that it really made me appreciate how wonderful the film was.

The creative team went wrong in so many ways – the first being that if they could not get permission to use the arrangements from the film, they should not have done the show. That being said, the first act clocks in at about one hour—fifty minutes of which were lackluster and all-together boring, as was nearly every other part of the show that did not involve the choir of nuns singing and dancing.

Given the stage credits of many of the principal and supporting characters, there seemed to have been a desire to give nearly ever character a ballad or two which dragged down the pace of the show, particularly as few if any of these ballads advanced the plot in any meaningful way. “I Could Be That Guy” had 45 seconds of bliss where Hairspray’s Chester Gregory reminded me what a tremendous performer he can be, but it was preceded by four minutes of purposeless dreck. Either his voice is unfortunately shot or the material is so bad, he doesn’t know where to begin (sadly, I suspect both). Victoria Clark’s (Light in the Piazza) Mother Superior was bland and her talents too were lost in the miasma of one bad ballad after another. Marla Mindelle’s Sister Mary Robert (the postulate) was adequate, but Kerry Butler (who is currently being wasted in Catch Me if You Can) would be much better suited for the role. Kingsley Leggs has my sympathies as he has unfortunately been given a poorly constructed role and musical numbers here (in the role of Deloris’ nemesis, Curtis Jackson) just as he was in The Color Purple. Patina Miller tried desperately to breathe life into Doloris Van Cartier/Sister Mary Clarence, but in the midst of such mediocrity, it was tough for me to care.

The set pieces revolved in and out, as is customary in London theaters that have been enhanced to put in transfers from The Olivier Theatre at the Royal National. At some moments, this allowed for some interesting staging by director Jerry Zaks, but did we need a pair of chase scenes? Kar Zieglerova’s giant statue of Mary in the middle of the church was curious and bizarre, but when she was disco-fied for the curtain call, it became clear that Madonna’s disco cross from the Confessions Tour was being channeled.  

Alan Menken has created some of the most memorable melodies in the animated film repertoire (tonight, he was sitting a mere four seats from me). Unfortunately, his talents are limited and some of his songs are virtually identical (“Somewhere That’s Green” recycled as “Part of Your World” for instance). Here, “Be Our Guest” was re-imagined as “Bless Our Show.” The 11 o’clock number “Sister Act” wanted desperately to be “For Good” from Wicked, but was notably inferior. The interpolation of a taste of Sugar Hill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight” was fun but certainly not necessary. While the three large numbers for the choir were indeed blissful ("Raise Your Voice," “Take Me to Heaven,” and “Spread the Love Around”), the rest of the score fell flat. In this last week of previews, they should cut all the unnecessary numbers (everything sung by anyone other than the choir) and bring the show in at 90 minutes.

Sister Act will open at The Broadway Theater on April 20, 2011




The London Cast:

The Film: