Sister Act is a musical comedy based on the film of the same name with music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Glenn Slater.
Set in 1970's Philadelphia, the play follows Deloris Van Cartier, a singer with dreams of superstardom. However, she's trapped under the controlling thumb of Curtis Jackson, her gangster boyfriend. After witnessing Curtis murder an underling, Deloris runs to the police, where she's convinced to testify against him. However, until the trial can begin, Deloris must be protected from Curtis so she's cloistered away in a convent of reclusive nuns so she'll be out of sight.
At the convent, Deloris' vivacious personality clashes with that of the cautious Mother Superior, leading to comedic conflict as the convent slowly opens up to the public after years of seclusion.
This musical adaptation provides examples of:
- Abridged for Children: A one-act adaptation of the musical titled Sister Act Jr. can be performed by schools. This version removes all references to guns (Ernie dies offstage in an ambiguous way, implied to have been thrown out a window), most death references except for Ernie's death, all uses of inappropriate language and Deloris's various blasphemous uses of God and Jesus's names in vain, and much of Curtis's threatening behavior in general. Some songs including "When I Find My Baby" are cut entirely, but Curtis now sings in "Lady in the Long Black Dress" instead of exiting the stage just before the song.
- Adaptational Angst Upgrade:
- Deloris is depicted as a lonely soul looking for something resembling a family.
- Mother Superior experiences a crisis in faith and plaintively sings out to God for guidance in her featured solos.
- Sister Mary Robert angsts over the fact that she's always been a good girl and never rebelled against anything. Her character arc involves standing up in defiance to Mother Superior.
- Eddie Souther faces ridicule at work for his nervousness on the job and he pines after Deloris.
- Adaptational Relationship Overhaul: In the musical, Deloris and Eddie are former schoolmates, with Eddie nursing a lifelong crush on Deloris. In the film, they first meet after Deloris witnesses the plot-inducing murder and the two remain platonic.
- Adaptational Jerkass: In the film, the Reverend Mother only loses her temper after Deloris sneaks out of the convent and puts Mary Patrick and Mary Robert at risk. In the play, Mother Superior puts down Deloris from the moment they meet and even witholds food from her out of spite. Also, the film's Reverend Mother is quick to launch a rescue mission when she learns of Deloris' kidnapping while the play's Mother Superior tries to get everyone to forget about Deloris and has to be prodded into action by Mary Robert.
- Adaptational Location Change: The musical is set entirely in Philadelphia, instead of the Witness Protection moving Deloris from Reno to San Francisco like in the movie.
- Adaptation Expansion: In the film, Deloris' boyfriend Vinnie has two goons and the three only get a little screentime and no characterization beyond being Italian mobsters. In the play, Curtis has three goons, including a nephew, and they are featured in two Villain Songs to flesh out their characters.
- Adaptation Name Change:
- Rather than being addressed as "Reverend Mother" as in the film, the abbess is addressed as "Mother Superior" in the play.
- Some productions rename Monsignor O'Hara as Monsignor Howard.
- Crossing over with Race Lift, Deloris' boyfriend goes from being the Italian-American Vinnie LaRocca to the Black Curtis Jackson.
- In the original London production, Joey the gangster was renamed Bones — however, the current script reverts him back to his original name.
- Adaptation Personality Change: The Mother Superior is even more of a Deadpan Snarker in the musical.
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: In the musical, Delores and Lt. Eddie Souther went to high school together, where she called him "Sweaty Eddie." During the story it's also more heavily implied that they're developing romantic feelings for each other.
- Ambiguously Gay: The two antique-dealing bachelors who want to buy the convent.
- Anachronism Stew: The play is explicitly set over the 1977-to-1978 holiday season. However it samples and references "Rapper's Delight" by The Sugarhill Gang, which came out in 1979, and briefly features hip-hop clothing styles that didn't come into vogue until the 1990's and early 2000's.
- Anti-Love Song: "When I Find My Baby" and "Lady in the Long Black Dress" both sound like love songs but "When I Find My Baby" is an "I Hate" Song about murder while "Lady in the Long Black Dress" is about stalking and kidnap.
- Ascended Extra: The Big Bad's henchmen are now a Comic Trio with more established personalities than their film counterparts. They even get their own song.
- Big Eater: The musical version makes clear Sister Mary Patrick is one. The lyrics to "How I Got the Calling" specify she found God's vocation through food, such as seeing "the face of Jesus in a coconut cream pie."
- Brick Joke: Deloris talks repeatedly of wanting a white-sequined dress and fur stole similar to the ones worn by Diana Ross. She finally gets to wear them in the curtain call and encore.
- Canon Foreigner: Unlike Vinnie, Curtis has an adult nephew named TJ, who joins his uncle's gang and helps track down Deloris.
- Can't Get Away with Nuthin': When Deloris and the nuns sneak to a bar across the street on her first night, they almost run into Curtis' goons.
- Confessional: Mother Superior accidentally confesses to Deloris rather than Monseigneur O'Hara in one.
- Conscience Makes You Go Back: Deloris goes to stay with Eddie after Curtis finds out she was in the convent but then goes back to the nuns because they need her to help them perform for the pope.
- Creator Cameo: The show's musical director will step out of the orchestra pit to portray Pope Paul VI at the end.
- Disappeared Dad: Deloris' father left when she was a child.
- Disguised in Drag: Curtis' goons sneak into the convent while dressed as nuns.
- Do Not Call Me "Paul": Deloris hates Eddie calling her Doris.
- Doom Magnet: Sister Mary Lazarus joined the sisterhood for protection after her family started dying off in accidents, culminating in her hometown being hit by a tornado.
- Doorstop Baby: Sister Mary Robert was left in the convent as a baby.
- Equal-Opportunity Evil: Curtis is Black and employs TJ (Black), Joey (White), and Pablo/Dinero (Puerto Rican).
- "I Hate" Song: "When I Find My Baby", which is arranged like an R&B ballad but has lyrics describing how Curtis wants to kill Deloris to keep her from testifying against him.
- Intercourse with You: Deloris is introduced singing "Take Me to Heaven", which is about a woman asking her lover to pleasure her. When it gets reprised by the nuns, the context changes the sexual song into one of worship.
- It Kind of Looks Like a Face: In "How I Got The Calling", Sister Mary Patrick said she became a nun after seeing Jesus, Mary and various saints' faces in food.
- "I Want" Song: "The Life I Never Led" is Sister Mary Robert singing about things she can't do because she's a nun.
- Language Barrier: Pablo/Dinero only speaks in rapid-fire Spanish and other characters note that they can't understand him. In the climax, a Spanish-speaking nun provides helpful translation so the rest know how to react.
- Last-Second Word Swap: Deloris shows Sister Mary Robert her pair of FM boots, but catches herself before sharing what "FM" stands for ("F*** Me"). She settles for "Father Mulcahy" instead.
- Musical World Hypothesis: People now randomly burst into song as well as having realistic rehearsals and performances.
- Nepotism: Curtis' idiot nephew, TJ works for him.
- Noodle Incident: Sister Mary Lazarus and Mother Superior both reference a folk mass that left the two at loggerheads but no details of the incident are provided.
- Patter Song: "Raise Your Voice" features Mary Lazarus chanting a portion of "Gloria in excelsis Deo" at high speed to provide a counter melody to the rest of the chorus.
- Pistol-Whipping: The nuns knock Curtis' mooks out with their own guns.
- Pragmatic Adaptation: The "Deloris getting the nuns to improve the neighborhood" and "Mother Superior threatening to quit" subplots are dropped. Deloris is seen by Curtis on TV because the nuns singing made the news.
- Promoted to Love Interest: Eddie to Deloris.
- Quirky Miniboss Squad: Curtis Jackson's trio of henchmen: his nephew TJ, Joey (or Bones), and Pablo (or Dinero).
- Race Lift:
- The Big Bad Vinnie was white in the film, while his stage counterpart Curtis is typically played by a black actor. There are some productions that still portray him as white, however.
- While Eddie is usually a played by a black actor like in the film, certain productions (like the UK tour) have a white actor in the role.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: While Mother Superior complains about the changes Deloris' music is bringing, Monsignor O'Hara embraces the energizing effects and welcomes the new people coming into church (and the money they bring) with open arms.
- Remake Cameo: Whoopi Goldberg has played the Reverend Mother in this a few times.
- Setting Update: Inverted. The film was set in 1990's Reno and San Francisco. The musical moves the setting to Philadelphia from Christmas, 1977, to New Year, 1978. Because of this, Pope Paul VI is featured rather than Pope John Paul II.
- Summon Everyman Hero: The musical starts with Mother Superior praying to God to save the convent. We then get a Gilligan Cut to Deloris performing on stage in a nightclub.
- Technician/Performer Team-Up: The Mother Superior of the convent is the Technician, as she is old-fashioned and believes in discipline and order in all things, including the choir and its song choices. Deloris, who's in witness protection as "Sister Mary Clarence," is the Performer—as a Vegas lounge singer, she knows how to wow a crowd and use choreography and staging in addition to rollicking music. Though they initially butt heads, they eventually grow to respect each other; their healed relationship is demonstrated by the concert at the end of the film, which has the nuns sing "I Will Follow Him" in both Mother Superior and Deloris's styles (it begins as a traditional madrigal then transitions to a gospel performance).
- There Is No Kill Like Overkill: This song.
To put it in comparison, the man singing killed a mole (aka a spy) by a single gunshot (which his girl saw). For that former mistress, he wants to drill, shoot, stab, drown, disembowel, or "give her skull a big dent with a blunt instrument." All while dancing to disco/jazz and having his henchmen sing backup. - Title Drop: Deloris' song, "Sister Act".
- Trademark Favorite Food: Philly cheese steaks for Deloris.
- Villain Song: "When I Find My Baby" is Curtis singing about how he's going to find and kill Deloris.
