It's the same feel-good comedy….a wannabe jazz diva witnesses a murder and has to hide out in a convent. But, unlike the movie, the musical is actually set in the City of Brotherly Love.
Matt Wolf, VP of Programming, Kimmel Center said, "And it's wonderful because you get all of the familiar references and it feels just like home watching this musical, the Tastykakes, all of the other stuff."
Deloris Van Cartier, played by Whoopi Goldberg in the movie version, is the seedy jazz club singer using the convent as her safe house and clashing head on with the Mother Superior.
"What's great about the musical is that it's also a musical clash so you have this jazz and this gospel and this music that just comes straight from emotion, straight from the heart and it smashes right into the sort of strict religious music," said Wolf.
The singer and the mother superior develop a sisterly affection and Deloris helps the nuns find their voices as she rediscovers her own.
The rousing score is written by 8-time Oscar winner Alan Menken who also wrote Beauty and the Beast and the Little Mermaid.
Wolf added, "As far as the music of this year and this season, Sister Act has my favorite score and I think it's got those moments of great energy and it's got those moments that really bring a tear to your eye. And there's this one song called Sister Act that she sings closer to the end that I guarantee is going to bring the house down."
Sister Act runs April 2nd through the 7th at the Academy of Music.
For tickets and show times, visit the Kimmel Center.
