Nun but the Best in this Rousing Revival
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| Joy Ellis |
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| Meg Hopp |
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| Sarah Marie Young (center) |
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| Sarah Marie Young |
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| Allen Cruz (center) |
By
Tom Wachunas
“…If
you feel it, why conceal it, Let your soul rejoice! Raise the stakes! Raise
your game! Raise your voice!..” - Sister Act lyrics by Glenn Slater, from
the song “Raise Your Voice”
I raise my voice once more, as I did in
response to the spectacular 2017 Players Guild mainstage production of Sister Act. The musical comedy, superbly
directed by Jonathan Tisevich, was a grand success for the Guild. If you need a
reminder, here’s a link to my synopsis and review:
And thus a bar
had been set, a bold standard met. Could, then, a revival of this show match that level of excellence?
Yes, and then
some. Talk about raising your game. In this iteration, exactly three years
later, Tisevich has again directed a stunning cast, some reprising their 2017
roles, and all gifted with superlative talent.
Joy Ellis
reprises her role of Deloris Cartier, a wannabe disco diva, disguised as Sister
Mary Clarence, hiding in a convent from her murderous, boogie-oogie club-owner
boyfriend, Curtis (Mark Dillard). Radiant as ever, Ellis is a wondrously facile
singer who exudes both muscular sensuality and compelling emotionality. Her
voice saturates the very air with an electricity that clearly charges the convent’s choir of
nuns. In this wild narrative, Sister Mary Clarence teaches these tone-deaf
sisters how to turn their bilious braying into beatific praying that soars to
heights of heavenly harmonies, drawing not only new congregants to their
floundering church, but the attention of the Pope himself.
Meg Hopp has
also returned, playing the wry and introspective Mother Superior. Here she
gives us an even more poignant and sobering look at her character’s vexing
questions and frustrations. Yet in the soulful weariness that seems to color
the unique sonority of her voice, there’s remains a sense of strength and
resolve. It’s simply intriguing to watch her.
Likewise,
Sarah Marie Young is commanding in her reprised portrayal of the convent’s shy,
nervous postulant, Sister Mary Robert. I
don’t think I’ve ever heard Young sing – and I’ve heard her sing in many Guild productions - with more
riveting fervor than in her heartfelt solo here, “The Life I Never Led.”
Allen Cruz
plays Eddie, the cop with a crush on Deloris. He’s a delightful combination of
sincere ardor and lovable awkwardness.
In the show-stopping number “I Could Be That Guy” - featuring Cruz’s
hilariously quick peel-away costume changes - he morphs from being a
self-deprecating dreamer into a suave, hip-swaying crooner, imagining himself
to be a star of stage and…life.
Meanwhile,
there’s no shortage of gut-splitting laughs when watching Curtis’s bumbling trio of daffy thugs (Todd
Cooper, Anthony Woods-Mitchell, Drake Harbert), especially when they perform an
over-the-top parody of lascivious seduction in “Lady In The Long Black Dress.”
Another
endearing element of the production is the performative intensity of the nuns.
Each individual is fully invested in, and enveloped by, her character,
articulating a distinctive personality within the community.
In the stirring song,
“Bless Our Show,” we hear all of them joyously intone with infectious
exuberance, “Bless each note, and each
lyric, help us try to stay on key. Bless the lights and the soundboard, bless
our choreography. From the top of the downbeat 'till the final curtain call -
Bless the day, bless our show, bless it all!”
And so, additional kudos
to choreographer Lauren Dangelo, music director and conductor Steve Parsons,
scenic designer Joshua Erichsen, lighting designer Frankie Castrovillari, sound
designer Jake Brent, and costume designer Suwatana Rockland for their
impeccable work.
I don’t think it
necessary or even accurate to call this event an outright “improvement” on the
2017 production so much as an augmentation and amplification of an already
immensely entertaining enterprise. Forgive the pun, but offering consistently
electrifying, artful entertainment has long been a very admirable habit of the Players Guild.
So here we are in 2020, blessed yet again. You
could rightly call it a jubilant sensation of…déjà new.
PHOTOS: Thanks to Players
Guild / Jonathan Tisevich
Sister
Act, at Players Guild Theatre, THROUGH
March 15, 2020 / 1001 Market Avenue N., Canton, Ohio / Shows Fri. and Sat.
at 8:00 p.m., Sunday at 2:00 p.m. / 2:00 and 8:00 on Sat. March 14 / Tickets:
Single tickets - $34 ; 17 and younger - $27; Seniors - $31 / Order at www.playersguildtheatre.com or call 330. 493.7617
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