Fun Wins Out in “Sister Act” Musical

Several years ago, Long Beach Playhouse staged Stephen Sondheim’s brilliant but devilishly difficult Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. The result was disastrous.

Sister Act: A Divine Musical Comedy is no Sweeney Todd — but that’s a good thing here. By choosing a work that is a) not so far beyond the reach of a company that doesn’t specialize in musical theatre, and b) all about fun, Long Beach Playhouse is able to deliver a product that is likely to please most anyone who would buy a ticket to see a Whoopi Goldberg vehicle done up in song.

For those of you who haven’t seen that lighter-than-lite slice of 1992 (and I haven’t, so no unfair comparisons to the film here), it’s Xmastime 1977, and Donna Summer wannabe Deloris Van Cartier (Natasha Reese) accidentally sees her crime-boss boyfriend Curtis (William L. Warren) commit murder. The Philadelphia Police Department, who need to hide her away until she can testify, come up with the idea of stowing their notably unholy witness somewhere Curtis will never think to seek her out: a South Philly convent. Standard fish-out-of-water tropes ensue, and Deloris and her fellow nuns develop a true sisterhood, learning from each other blah blah blah.

Needless to say, you don’t come to Sister Act for plot. For the music, then? God knows composer Alan Menken’s had a lot of success — Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid, for example. There are no classics here (and several songs are instantly forgettable), but he and lyricist Glenn Slater do serve up occasional cleverness and unrelentingly good nature. A high point is Curtis’s “When I Find My Baby”, a Barry White-style disco ballad where the lover is gonna do very un-Barry White things when he gets his girl.

The delivery is shaky at times. As tends to be the case with Long Beach Playhouse musicals, the band sounds too thin, with occasional fits of pitchiness (particularly the violin). Vocally, although the effort is there, this simply isn’t a cast full of true singers (although the heaviest lifting is done by the truest, Natasha Reese, along with a very well-cast Erika Cruz as a little sister with a big big voice).

But let’s talk turkey: really the only reason you come to Sister Act is for good, clean fun. On this count, Long Beach Playhouse does just fine. On opening night the energy was sufficient to get the audience clapping along to multiple numbers, and Sonya L. Randall’s choreography gets a lot of laughs by giving her cast of non-dancers simple steps calibrated just slightly beyond what they can easily do. David Poncé, Demetri Mack, and Dimitri Tiatia-Garaud as Curtis’s henchmen are standouts on this score.

All this production’s strengths come together in “I Could Be That Guy”, a wistful ballad-cum-disco fantasy sung by Eddie (James Webb), the diffident Philly cop in charge of protecting Deloris. Webb is doing a fine Barry White turn (whaddya want from me? Menken likes Barry White), when suddenly, with a magical costume change, things jump to another realm. Lighting, blocking, song, ensemble…. All by itself, this number is worth the price of admission.

An unsung (unsinging?) star of Sister Act is the costumery, so immaculate that I feel compelled to namecheck not only costume designer Christina Bayer but the entire costume shop: Abertha Montgomery, Rebecca Roth, Linda Westman, Christina Abbot, Donna Frische, and Sharre Bischoff. In addition to their contribution to the above-mentioned magic, they bring an ever-increasing amount of sparkle and pizzaz to the proceedings. I doubt I’ve ever seen a show on this level where the costumers make such an outsized contribution.

Ultimately, Sister Act: A Divine Musical Comedy succeeds because its style and fun win out over its shortcomings and lack of substance. The denouement is so pleasing to look at that you forget the lame climax. You revel in the fun of the best numbers and forgive the musical failings. You knew what you were signing up for when you bought your tickets — and you got your money’s worth.

Long Beach Playhouse presents Sister Act: A Divine Musical Comedy Friday–Saturday 8:00 p.m. and Sunday 2:00 p.m. through November 20. Address: 5021 E. Anaheim St. Cost: $14 to $24. COVID safety protocols include mandatory masking throughout the duration, plus proof of vaccination or a negative test result within the prior 48 hours. For tix or more info, call (562) 494-1014 or visit LBplayhouse.org.