Singing sisters get set for praise
IF you didn’t get a chance to go to church today, you can still get your praise on with Sister Mary Clarence and the nuns of St Katherine’s Parish, when Sister Act, the musical, hits our shores this week.
It is based on the 1992 hit movie starring Whoopi Goldberg as a lounge singer named Deloris Van Cartier who, after witnessing a murder, goes into hiding from the bad guys — living in a convent with a bunch of singing nuns.
The stage version has seen several incarnations, with its first in the US in 2006 directed by Goldberg herself. It later moved on to London in 2009. Locally, we will be doing things our own way, as producer Bernard Jay and director Janice Honeyman have opted for the non-replica rights to the show.
“Here at the Joburg Theatre, we don’t do musicals unless they are original productions. We don’t want to just bring in the touring company,” said Jay. “It means you don’t do a production that has been done before, where you have to say, ‘On those three words you move left, on those two words you sit down,’ ” added Honeyman.
The show stays true to the script and musical score as stipulated by the show’s licensing, but will be infused with a flair and creativity that has kept Honeyman at the top of her game for more than two decades. The cast will also be accompanied by a 12-piece band.
Naledi Award-winning actress Candida Musoma finally won the lead, after an audition process that started a year ago. She will be understudied by two other actresses, who form part of the 30-strong cast.
“No audition process is easy and this one definitely put us all through our paces and it was worth every effort,” said Musoma. The show opens on Tuesday and will run until August 16.