Kelowna Actors Studio presenting “Sister Act”
Here’s a recipe for unbridled fun and hilarity: take one tight-knit, solemn convent full of nuns, add one irreverent wanna-be Vegas show girl, stir with cops and killers, pour onto the stage and wait for fireworks.
A musical spin-off from the '90's movie hit, Sister Act is playing at Kelowna Actors Studio, with Barbara Samuel taking on the role of Sister Mary Clarence and Laura Lebbon as Mother Superior.
Samuel admits easily and frankly that she’s “completely, completely, completely” out of her comfort zone but is tackling the task of firsttime acting with a vengeance and “getting down on the groove.”
“It’s actually been a secret fantasy of mine, to do some acting at some time,” she added with a laugh. “When it came up, I had all kinds of people telling me to try out for the part.
“They insisted it was the role for me, that Deloris was me! That I was the perfect person for the role. I guess they were right and I’m having a blast. And I’m being stretched in every direction and then some.”
She credits her success on stage to the “incredible” directing of Randy Leslie, who “has a talent for drawing out each and every character” and creating an atmosphere of trust and “wanting to do justice to each role.”
Even though this is her first-ever acting role, Samuel is no stranger to being front and centre with an audience.
In real life, she’s a woman of the cloth---officiating at hundreds of weddings, “a fly on the wall seeing love unfold and envelop people” all summer long.
Another hat that the infectiously upbeat new actor wears is that of singer in the band Sista B & the Boyz, bringing her vocals to good use with her high energy.
The role of Sister Mary Clarence appears to have been almost created for Samuel, who pegs her nun as “flamboyant, outgoing, wears wild, wild clothes and has no filters.”
“She’s not going to be reigned-in by anybody. But underneath all of that, she’s got a huge heart, and she finds true friendship and unconditional love among the sisters,” Samuel added. The movie version of Sister Act saw Whoopi Goldberg as the Disco Diva who gets ferreted away to the convent to keep her safe because she’s been witness to a murder. The cops hide her among the nuns—because who’d think of looking for her there?
But in the convent, the unlikely new convert finds a suspicious Mother Superior frowning on her worldly antics, which include busting in and jazzing up the dour and drab convent choir, zapping the usual deadly boring vocals with disco fever.
As the head-nun, Lebbon finds the severe exterior masks a “motherly” interior. "She's really got the nuns’ best interest at heart,” Lebbon says of her character.
“She avoids all the goings-on, the debauchery that she sees. Mother Superior is sarcastic, stern but firm and fair,” she added. “I identify with her more than I thought I would.”
Lebbon has been with Actors Studio for a year, and without her sisterly habit, many might recognize her as the front woman for the local band Grove Engine. Originally from the UK, she’s been a prominent member of bands and has been featured on national TV and radio commercials.
“This musical has the fun scores, every line, every dialogue has been well thought out, and the music just makes you wanna dance and smile,” she added.
The cast of Sister Act is rounded out with Brandon Shalansky as the calculating and notorious gangster searching for Deloris; Delphine Litke as the indefatigable perky and enthusiastic Sister Mary Patrick; Desmond Parenteau portrays Lt. Eddie Souther, a nervous policeman who dreams of being confident and brave; and veteran KAS cast member Ron Green as Monsignor O’Hara, a man with no disco in his soul.
Twenty sweet and sassy nuns complete the show, boisterously singing out their newfound joy and dancing into the hearts of the audience.
When Sister Act first hit the stage and the silver screen, it was labelled “ridiculously fun” filled with powerful music, outrageous dancing and enough power to remind everyone about the power of friendships.
Upcoming KAS performances include The HunchBack of Notre Dame, in April; Souvenir, the story of socialite Florence Foster Jenkins, in May; Love Letters in July and the season finale, Mamma Mia in August.