[NEohioPAL] REVIEW: Sister Act at Players Guild Theatre

[Tom Wachunas via NEohioPAL]

S I S T E R I C A LBy Tom Wachunas    Oh my flabby abs! Be still, my Philly soul!If I have one complaint about the current Players Guild Theatre production of Sister Act, it’s that I split a gutlaughing so much, all the while stinging my hands from so many spontaneousoutbursts of applause. I hereby charge director Jonathan Tisevich,choreographer and co-director Michael Lawrence Akers, music director andconductor Steve Parsons and his orchestra, scenic designer Joshua Erichsen,lighting and sound designer Scott Sutton, costume designer Stephen Ostertag,the entire cast, and crew, with first-degree felonious exuberance. Yikes. Whodo they think they are, Broadway professionals?
   And well they should. This business of thePlayers Guild mounting sprawling stage musicals with crazygreat local talentcontinues to be a very good habit in these parts. Nun but the best, I alwayssay. Bless me Father, for I have punned.
    Based on the 1992 film comedy starringWhoopi Goldberg (and debuting on Broadway in 2011), the setting is 1977Philadelphia, and tells the story of a vivacious night club entertainer andrising disco diva named Deloris Van Cartier, “as in Cartier’s,” says the sassy singer with a snap of her fingers. Aftershe inadvertently witnesses bad-guy club owner, Curtis, commit a murder, sheneeds to enter protective custody and hide. “You mean I gotta go incognegro?”she wryly asks Eddie, the timid cop who harbors  romantic feelings for her. He promptly whisksher away to the unlikeliest of places - Queen of Angels Church and convent.There, life will fast become raucously… unconventional for her and newfoundsisters, initially much to the dismay of the righteous Mother Superior.
   Mother, however, begrudgingly finds a wayfor Deloris, disguised as Sister Mary Clarence, to temporarily fit into thecommunity by letting her sing with  thechoir. When the eager Deloris asks if the sisters sing well, the weary Motherreplies simply, “There are no words.” Indeed, when we first encounter thisapparently tone-deaf ensemble, we hear arguably the scariest aural cacophony toever grace a stage. Hey, it requires great skill to sound this horrific. But Deloris dutifully transforms the group into averitable choral phenomenon that can regale us with heavenly harmonies, as inthe song “Bless Our Show,” as well as execute electrifying disco dance gyrationsin the show-stopping “Raise Your Voice.”
   Speaking of a vocal phenomenon, watching JoyEllis in her role of Deloris is to be immersed in a marvelously radiantpresence. She is eminently gifted with a very refined technical prowess alongwith a finessed and invigorating emotive power. In her facile joining of thoseaspects, her fervor becomes infectious, generating all the dimensionality of,appropriately enough, a spiritual experience.
    Theshow is consistently enriched by many remarkable passages. Among them, MegHopp, as Mother Superior, is a genuinely gripping character throughout, and nomore so than when, with urgent  warmth,she intones her frustrations in “I Haven’t Got A Prayer.”  Likewise, playing the sweetly nervouspostulant Sister Mary Robert, Sarah Marie Young is riveting and robust when shequestions her decision to be a nun in “The Life I Never Led.”  Julie Connair, as Sister Mary Patrick, leadsher giddy cohorts in the hilariously biting “It’s Good To Be A Nun,” and isotherwise all bubbly mirth when she’s on stage. 

   Both Demetrius Rodriguez as Eddie, andWillis Gordon as Curtis, smoothly render sinewy shades of classic Soul and R&Bmusic. Rodriguez’s ballad, “I Could Be That Guy,” is utterly heartrending.Curtis’s “When I Find My Baby” is a chilling study in malicious intent.Meanwhile, Curtis sends his trio of inept thugs - played to the hilt by MicahHarvey as Joey, Brandon Talbert as TJ, and Russell Jones as Pablo - to find andeliminate Deloris. Their schmaltzy, fumbling postures as would-be seducers in“Lady In The Long Black Dress” is itself a piece of comedic genius.
      
   If ever there was a benevolent Players Guildconspiracy to rattle our funny bones, warm our hearts with unfettered glee, andbrightly illuminate the astonishing abundance of serious theatrical and musicaltalent in our own back yard, this is it. Here’s to wondrously raised voices andspreading the love around. I rest my case.     SISTERACT, at Players Guild Theatre, 1001 Market Avenue N., Canton, Ohio /THROUGH MARCH 12 / Shows at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday / Tickets$27 adult, $24 seniors 55 and older, $19 ages 17 and younger / Availableat  www.playersguildtheatre.com  orcall box office at 330- 454- 8172
    For other commentaries by Tom Wachunas onthe performing and visual arts in the greater Canton area, please visit ARTWACHat www.artwach.blogspot.com 
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