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In Which We See Sister Act: The Musical
Sep. 24th, 2017 09:38 pmToday we saw Sister Act: The Musical at Berkeley Playhouse. I've never seen the original, but it looks like the plot points are largely the same. The big difference is in the music. Apparently, the original had pop music from the time, while this one has original music, much of it with a disco feel, because the time period has been moved back to 1977-1978.
One of the things that amused me about the play is that it feels like someone sold it as "The Sound of Music, but set entirely in the nunnery". You see, a stranger comes to town (the nunnery / the Van Trapp estate). She teaches the residents (nuns / children) how to sing. They're brought together by this. Then villains descend (gangsters / Nazis) and the nuns gang up to protect the outsiders (the Van Trapps / Deloris). The musical even highlights this similarity by having Deloris gush early on about the nuns fighting the Nazis in The Sound of Music, then having one of her nuns sing a quick do-re-me-fa-so-la-ti-do.
Early on, I was troubled a bit by some of the racial politics, as the play was mocking the differences between an urban black woman and this largely white monastery. But it quickly moved on, and the rest of the musical was about the unifying powers of music and sisterhood. Something that really charmed me about the excellent writing of the musical was that it did a great job of strongly characterizing several of the characters, so that it didn't feel like a play about just Deloris, but also Sweaty Eddy, Mary Margaret, and the Mother Superior (at the least).
The most disappointing thing about the musical was that I found most of the women's songs just OK. I think that's because most of them didn't reveal character, like the best musical songs do. Instead they tended to reveal themes (e.g., Deloris' initial song was about heaven, then she and the nuns sang many songs together that were well-constructed religious songs that blended Deloris' jazzy gospel with religious teaching). But I also don't love gospel; it's OK. The exception was Mother Superior, who had some intriguing philosophical songs, where she was often talking to God. Oh, and Mary Margaret's "The Life I Never Led" was pretty good. So maybe it was just Deloris and the Nun Ensemble's songs that weren't as great as the rest.
The best songs, obviously, were then from the men, which was a bit sad in a play peopled by so many strong women. Curtis Shank had a great murder/love song about Deloris called "When I Find My Baby", that we think may be what made some people decide at intermission that perhaps they didn't want to return for the second half with their children. Then Sweaty Eddie had "I Could Be That Guy", an "I Want" song, but one that really went to the core of his character, that had some great choreography, some shocking costume changes, and made him the star of our local show due to the terrific performance. Then the bad guy's henchmen had a hilarious song about seducing nuns called "Lady in the Long Black Dress".
One of the things that amused me about the play is that it feels like someone sold it as "The Sound of Music, but set entirely in the nunnery". You see, a stranger comes to town (the nunnery / the Van Trapp estate). She teaches the residents (nuns / children) how to sing. They're brought together by this. Then villains descend (gangsters / Nazis) and the nuns gang up to protect the outsiders (the Van Trapps / Deloris). The musical even highlights this similarity by having Deloris gush early on about the nuns fighting the Nazis in The Sound of Music, then having one of her nuns sing a quick do-re-me-fa-so-la-ti-do.
Early on, I was troubled a bit by some of the racial politics, as the play was mocking the differences between an urban black woman and this largely white monastery. But it quickly moved on, and the rest of the musical was about the unifying powers of music and sisterhood. Something that really charmed me about the excellent writing of the musical was that it did a great job of strongly characterizing several of the characters, so that it didn't feel like a play about just Deloris, but also Sweaty Eddy, Mary Margaret, and the Mother Superior (at the least).
The most disappointing thing about the musical was that I found most of the women's songs just OK. I think that's because most of them didn't reveal character, like the best musical songs do. Instead they tended to reveal themes (e.g., Deloris' initial song was about heaven, then she and the nuns sang many songs together that were well-constructed religious songs that blended Deloris' jazzy gospel with religious teaching). But I also don't love gospel; it's OK. The exception was Mother Superior, who had some intriguing philosophical songs, where she was often talking to God. Oh, and Mary Margaret's "The Life I Never Led" was pretty good. So maybe it was just Deloris and the Nun Ensemble's songs that weren't as great as the rest.
The best songs, obviously, were then from the men, which was a bit sad in a play peopled by so many strong women. Curtis Shank had a great murder/love song about Deloris called "When I Find My Baby", that we think may be what made some people decide at intermission that perhaps they didn't want to return for the second half with their children. Then Sweaty Eddie had "I Could Be That Guy", an "I Want" song, but one that really went to the core of his character, that had some great choreography, some shocking costume changes, and made him the star of our local show due to the terrific performance. Then the bad guy's henchmen had a hilarious song about seducing nuns called "Lady in the Long Black Dress".
And how can you fault lyrics that rhyme "Mary Magdalene" (twice, I think) and "transubstantiation" (once, I think)?
Good actors and singers, as usual. Sweaty Eddy was the hit, as I said. A few tripped up lines, because this was opening weekend.
Irreverent and occasionally laugh-out-loud funny. It's showing for the next month.