Drayton’s Sister Act show is musical showstopper: Ottens

DRAYTON – The second show of the season at the Drayton Festival Theatre is Sister Act, based on the popular 1992 movie.

If you’ve never heard of this movie, where have you been? This box office success might not have won any Oscars, but the movie, the soundtrack and the actors were nominated for 18 other awards (Golden Globes, People’s Choice, NAACP Image, MTV Movie) and won 10 of them. It was one of Whoopi Goldberg’s defining roles of her acting career.

Sister Act is a musical crime comedy, which sounds like a lot of genres stuffed into one show, and that’s what makes it so entertaining. Deloris is a struggling lounge singer whose gangster boyfriend doesn’t appreciate her. When she goes to meet him, she witnesses him killing a fellow gangster who is also a police informant. Because Deloris is an important witness who will help to finally put her gangster boyfriend in prison, she is put into witness protection. Eddie the police officer, who is also a childhood acquaintance of Deloris, escorts her to her new secret home – a convent connected to a church that is on the verge of being shut down due to a shrinking congregation.

Mother Superior is against the idea of letting outsiders into their private and sheltered lifestyle, but the priest, Monsignor O’Hara, encourages it because the convent will receive money it desperately needs as payment for sheltering Deloris.

The rigid and spartan lifestyle does not mesh with Deloris’s freewheeling enthusiasm and materialistic needs, and she clashes frequently with Mother Superior, who decides to have her join the lacklustre church choir. 

Naturally, Deloris ends up leading the choir, teaching the nuns how to sing in harmony (and on key). They do renditions of popular songs and incorporate dance moves, much to Mother Superior’s horror. But Monsignor O’Hara is delighted with the increasing church attendance and overflowing offering plates.

Meanwhile, the gangsters track down Deloris’s whereabouts, putting all the nuns in danger. In the end, justice prevails, as we know it would.

Deloris is played with magnificent enthusiasm by Karen Burthwright. She is an energetic wonder, filled with sass and charm. The cast is large, with standout performances by Matthew G. Brown as Officer Eddie and Donna Fletcher as Mother Superior.

The set is a wonder, serving as a lounge, a convent, a church and more, by changing only the lighting and a few minor set pieces. The show is set in the 1970s, with deliciously retro leisure suits and disco jumpsuits.

The music in the stage version of Sister Act differs from the movie because a stage musical typically uses songs to relay emotions and tell the story. The music is heavy on soul, disco, and funk, reflecting the lounge setting of 1970s Philadelphia.

Directed and choreographed by Julie Tomaino, Sister Act runs until Sunday, July 26 with various afternoon and evening shows, Tuesday to Sunday, at the Drayton Festival Theatre. 

Note that Wellington County Road 8 is closed coming into Drayton from north side due to a bridge closure, so travel to town accordingly.

Call the box office toll-free at 1-855-drayton (372-9866) or online at draytonentertainment.com.