Sister Act Explodes with Delight

The New York Post’s Elisabeth Vincentelli summed it up perfectly when she said, “Big glitzy numbers are the toast of Broadway musicals.  The only thing better?  Big, glitzy numbers…with nuns!”  Mercury Theatre’s brand new presentation of Sister Act proves how right she is.  It’s hard to imagine that a theatrical performance of any kind could feel like the best party you’ve been to in years; but when you check as many boxes as this show does, you can even wrap “best” in neon. 

By now the story Whoopi Goldberg made famous of a good time girl hiding out from her gangster boyfriend in a convent is almost as well-known as Santa Claus and Rudolf’s red nose.  But when you hand that already good story over to a couple of musical geniuses, toss in a killer cast and hand the reins over to a director who knows how to achieve her vision, you strike the motherlode.

Christopher Chase Carter, Mercury’s new Artistic Director and the show’s choreographer, was practically quaking with anticipation when he stepped on stage to welcome audiences back to the theater’s immaculate stage and set up the show.  When he enthusiastically promised the performance was going to be unbridled fun, you could sense he had every confidence in his ambitious pledge.

Kicking off with just a scintillating taste of the glitz that would later consume the stage, a three-member girl group was taking it all the way to the top with a steaming rendition of Take Me to Heaven.  It only took a nanosecond or two to see that the lead, Deloris Van Cartier (Alexis Roston), is light years past special. With her large, fiercely dramatic soprano and a spirit filled with warmth and exuberance, she was instantly captivating.  We catch them as they’re auditioning, fruitlessly, to perform in her boyfriend Curtis’s nightclub in Philly.  Curtis (Denzel Tsopnang) is the kind of guy who’ll give his wife’s castaway coat to his girlfriend for Christmas. When your lover’s a thug, you let that and a lot of other things slide.  Murder isn’t one of them, though.  Walking in at just the wrong moment to see Curtis off one of his crew meant Deloris had to disappear.

Everything’s handled with the kind of light comedic touch that makes slapstick look both classy and endearing.  Reneisha Jenkins, in her directorial debut with this production, masterfully orchestrates movement in this make-believe world of farcical suspense.  It’s a skill you notice early.  That ability not only permeated the performance, it seemed the perfect complement to Cheri and Bill Steinkellner’s story adaptation of the play’s film original.  For a musical, a unique kind synergy is needed to make it not only fly, but soar.  One that melds music and lyrics into a storyline so seamlessly that the audience can’t help but be transported to a fantasy existence that feels entirely plausible. So, when just about everybody Deloris encounters gets transformed into another of her personal champions, you’re convinced there really is order to the world.

With such a large cast, it’s surprising and wonderful how many of them were given the chance to showcase their talent in solo and profile performances.  And with music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Glenn Slater, , both titans of Broadway, what they have to work with is astounding.  It’s Good to be a Nun was an early clue just how precocious and nimble the lyrics in this musical were going to be.  Sung by Roston, Isabella Andrews, Leah Morrow, and Jenny Rudnick; with additional nun support, it broke new ground.  Never has self-deprecation been restyled into something so charming and original. Not to mention funny, which was exponentially amplified by splendid singing and acting.  Morrow as Sister Mary Patrick, with her character’s naturally impish inclinations, habitually threatened to steal scenes throughout the musical.    

Because it was so pervasive, singing prowess seemed as if it must have been the first condition of casting. Eddie (Gilbert Domally), an admirer of Deloris since high school and now a police detective helping her hide, is as sweet and awkward as they come.  Exactly the kind of character who can morph miraculously into a smooth heartbreaker as he day dreams about what-if’s.  When he slips into I Could Be That Guy, the audience is at once stunned and transfixed at the range and magnetism of his voice.  

Highlighting Jenkins sharp directorial eye and helping to show off Carter’s talent for choreography, a strong supporting cast does triple duty throughout the performance.  Skillfully slipping in to add choral color or embellishment through dance, the ensemble provided beautiful gilding to already irreproachable roses. Pablo (Ruben Castro), Joey (Marcus Jackson) and TJ (Austin Nelson) wear a lot of hats and shine in all of them.

The same was equally true in the convent where Deloris tactfully whipped a moribund clutch of choir singers into something spectacular and fierce.  Talent oozed out of everywhere as, one by one, the nuns tapped into their creative side.

Cannily conceived and impeccably realized, Angela Weber Miller’s set design proved the perfect frame for this comely production of Sister Act.  The warm wood tones she used as backdrop in the church and her use of digital projection were especially noteworthy for establishing place and for the way they aided transitions.

Even with the show’s overflowing abundance of excellence, it was still Roston as Deloris who remained the center of gravity in this glittering universe.  Together, Sister Act and its star mark an ebullient return of live theater to Chicago stages.

Sister Act

Through January 2, 2022

Mercury Theater

3745 N. Southport Avenue

Chicago, IL    60613

https://www.mercurytheaterchicago.com/

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