by lisa lipsey –
Nominated for five Tony Awards including best musical, San Diego Musical Theatre’s (SDMT) Sister Act is raising the roof at downtown’s Horton Grand Theatre.
Known first as the 1992 blockbuster hit film starring Whoopi Goldberg, Sister Act continues to make audiences feel good, but of course it all begins with a little deadly mayhem. After witnessing a murder, disco diva Deloris Van Cartier is put in protective custody somewhere the cops are sure she won’t be a found… a convent!
Disguised as Sister Mary Clarence, she finds herself at odds with both the rigid lifestyle and Mother Superior. Deloris, however, breathes unexpected new life into the convent’s lackluster choir and the fun begins when the “celibate nuns start shaking their buns!”
SDMT welcomes back award-winning director, Larry Raben for this vibrant musical. “I absolutely loved the movie when it came out. The musical has all of the hilarity of the film but uses original songs that sound like they were written in the Motown era. It’s the perfect musical for the whole family, with a story that entertains and uplifts. You’ll laugh, you’ll boogie in your seat, and you’ll be moved by a heart-warming story at the core.”
Directing the choir in the role of Deloris is San Diego native and San Diego Musical Theatre veteran, Miriam Dance. About playing the part of an “imposter” leading a group of nuns, Dance noted, “This role is really fun… I feel like Deloris is always herself no matter what. She puts on the habit, but it doesn’t change her character and she doesn’t let anything stop her.”
“This role is really fun… I feel like Deloris is always herself no matter what. She puts on the habit, but it doesn’t change her character and she doesn’t let anything stop her.”
It is Deloris’s courage that Dance finds inspiring, “What is most challenging about this role is to display the actual confidence Deloris feels in herself. Nothing can get in her way and it is a little hard to display that confidence. Sometimes I need that encouragement and with this creative team and cast, you can find that support,” she said. “I’ve felt it since the very beginning of rehearsals. There is always somewhere you can go for help; they are open and willing to get to where you need to be.”
Dance currently teaches, directs and writes up in Santa Barbara and is thrilled to be back on stage here in San Diego, “I did my first play here in San Diego as a kid, I was cast as Belle in Beauty and The Beast. I have always loved being in musical theatre and going to school, I studied directing and playwriting.”
A lover of words and music, Dance shared her favorite silly line from Sister Act, “If it ain’t mutton, it ain’t nothin’,” as well as her favorite song from the show, “I really enjoy ‘Raise Your Voice.’ Deloris is teaching the women of the convent how to sing and throughout the course of the song they put their all into it and the choir goes from a zero to a one hundred.”
When sharing advice for other performers, Dance says there are two rules: “No one is better than the next person, we are all working toward one goal.” Her second rule “The show must go on!” is illustrated by another memory. “I remember when I was Assistant Director for a production for To Kill A Mockingbird in St. Louis, our Atticus was very sick one day, poor thing. We had to keep a vomit bucket on each side of the stage, he was a brave soul.”
Looking ahead, Dance says, “I hope to play Aida someday, because I know all the music. Sister Act was also one of my dream roles, so I am living the dream getting to play Deloris. I am also a song writer and I have an EP out called Heartstrings, available on all digital platforms. As a director, I have a middle-school production of Mary Poppins coming up in the fall in Santa Barbara.”
Sister Act runs now through Sunday, May 26 at the Horton Grand Theatre in San Diego’s Gaslamp District. For tickets and more information, call 858.560.5740 or go to sdmt.org.