When the musical comedy "Sister Act" hit cinemas in 1992, it was not only the leading actress Whoopi Goldberg, who was bursting with dynamism, but also the groovy soundtrack, a successful mixture of Motown classics and original compositions based on them, that was responsible for the success of the film was. The stage musical, which premiered in 2006, has consistently reduced the film plot and unfortunately had to do without the original songs. But the music composed throughout by Alan Menken is a congenial art fake and copies the Motown sound with its soul voices, brass and strings perfectly.
In the Bad Vilbeler Wasserburg you can now convince yourself at the castle festival that the copy is just as much fun as the original.
The thin plot about the nightclub singer Deloris (Tamara Wörner), who observes her ex-lover Curtis (Raphael Köb) in a murder and is hidden as a key witness in a nunnery until the trial, only serves to make the glamor woman with the soul voice with the unhappy "Sanctus, sanctus" to bring together fistulous sisters.
After a short stranger, Deloris brings the croaking voices to the growing displeasure of the mother superior (Sonja Herrmann) on their toes and shows them by the way that devotion to God and worldly pleasure in singing do not have to be opposites.
A brilliant finale
Soon she formed a small troop, which finally also inspired the church superior, Monsignor O'Hara (Theodor Reichardt). Unfortunately, the press gets wind of the singing crowd of nuns, and so Curtis discovers the one he is looking for all over Philadelphia on television. The attempt to track them down in the monastery and to eliminate them, however, fails because of the resistance of the solidarity sisters and because of a hymn book that catches the bullet in front of the hearts of the hunted.
Of course, Deloris does not remain unaffected by any of this. Although she repeatedly expresses her disbelief robustly, she is deeply touched by the nuns' love and willingness to make sacrifices. And when the Pope visits Philadelphia, she appears, now without a hood, but still in her habit, singing and dancing with her "sisters". The brilliant finale, which pulls out all the stops, effectively combines dance choreography, singing and chasing disco rhythms, is deliciously meaningless, here it's all about the unleashing of voices and bodies.
Under the direction of Christian Voss and the musical direction of Philipp Polzin, a large ensemble, which is also vocally convincing in the smaller roles, whirls over Claus Stump's show stage with a lot of flickering light. Bad Vilbel has shown a good hand in the selection of pieces for several years now, after “Saturday Night Fever” two years ago, “Sister Act” is also the successful implementation of an icon of pop films. The precision with which, supported by a small live band in the studio on the Burgzinne, is singing and dancing (choreography Kerstin Ried), pulls the audience into storms of enthusiasm.
What a shame that not many hundreds of people can enjoy the evening performances, but perhaps falling incidences up to August will allow an increase.
I wish the festival and the inspiring ensemble from the bottom of my heart.
Sister Act: Next performances on June 28th, 29th and 30th