"Sister Act" A Great 'Pope Gig'

Set in 1970s Philadelphia, “Sister Act” timely touches on race, religion, redemption, disco, polyester, crime and gunplay, all thriving in the City of Brotherly Love.

When chanteuse Doloris Van Cartier (the show-stopping Miriam Dance) and her two Supreme-like backup singers flunk an audition with BF Curtis Jackson (big guy Berto Fernandez), an underworld kingpin with a disco club and a you-brute-you persona, then sees him murder a mob informant, consternation reigns.

The solution? Hide Doloris in Philly’s Queen of Angels Church Convent. Bashful cop “Sweaty Eddie” Souther (the appealing Jeremy Whatley) gets her to the nunnery to hide out “incogNegro,” while Mother Superior (the droll Sandy Campbell) reads her the riot act and the games begin.

This all occurs the day before Christmas when the nuns are struggling to sing on key for holiday services. On Christmas Day, enter ex Catholic Doloris disguised in black-and-white habit, devoid of sequins, thigh high boots, leopard décolletage and Big Hair. She passes up the Feast of Mutton and shows the nuns where and how to produce that big sound so adored by audiences.

The nuns lap it up. Mother Superior is appalled. Of course, this plays to the national assumption that hidden in every nun is a disco dancer yearning to breathe free, and in every Mother Superior a Nurse Ratchet on steroids. But that’s not where this riotous tale is heading.

The affectionate send-up of Catholicism vies with Rabbi jokes, Southern baptism jokes, Methodist green bean jokes, and onward through the panoply of irreverent humor that laces the national parlance of a country that is, after all, religious and in favor of Helping Others, Spreading Love, and Showing Tolerance.

Amid Mathys Herbert’s clever set that evokes an urban vibe on SDMT’s postage-stamp stage, we get related bon mots like “The world is your oyster when you’re locked inside a cloister”; “This must be how Protestants feel” (when in a disco club); “Sin is always outside, never inside” (the convent); and “What exactly is Balm in Gilead?”

In an amusing sub theme hinging on the slow death of organized religion, two antique dealers are trying to buy the financially-strapped church property for cash, but even they get their comeuppance as who would not when the nuns cut loose. But Doloris, doubtful that she’ll ever fit in, climbs into mufti and goes to a bar bedizened with 1970s psychedelic posters of The Doors and Taj Mahal.

Anxious good cop “Sweaty Eddie” follows her and in a virtuoso turn channels John Travolta replete with adroit costume changes right in front of the audience—which went nuts.

At the heart of this show is the terrific nun ensemble with adorable standouts like Sarah Errington as a scared postulant and Bethany Slomka as a latent renegade. The nuns’ joyous transition from flat humming to sensational singing packs the pews with everyone from ne’er-do-wells, “five Jews,” and mobs of locals, and puts Queen of Angels in the black. Mother Superior is still appalled, but starting to melt.

“This is bigger than ‘Vegas!” exults Doloris, who leads the ensemble in a killer Act One finale.

As we wend through a short, punchy Act Two, Monsignor O'Hara (the wonderful Jim Chovick), a Doloris/disco fan from the start, gets the greatest “Pope gig” in history for the nuns: Yup, fans, they’re going to sing for Pope Paul VI, who’s Philly-bound. Doloris, in a touching solo, “Sister Act,” evokes sisterhood-is-powerful and returns to coach the nuns for their big debut.

We won’t reveal the conclusion save to say that Curtis gets his, his hysterically funny sidekicks (Donny Gersonde, Gerardo Flores Tonella, E. Y. Washington) get theirs, Mother Superior gets rhythm, “Sweaty Eddie” gets Doloris, and Doloris gets a white fox fur and sequined white gown like her idol, Donna Summer.

As the Monsignor says, “Get down with Queen of Angels and give it up for Pope Paul!”

We did. The broad shoulders of Mother Church carry this hit show from start to finish, while the Gospel message of brotherly and sisterly love shines undiminished.

“Sister Act” runs through May 26 at the Horton Grand, home of San Diego Musical Theatre.