Sister Act at the Academy… take the kids?

I received two complimentary tickets to the opening night of Sister Act at the Academy of Music. The first question I pondered was, “Can I take one of the kids?” The answer, according to Broadway.com, was yes. The review warned that there was some violence in the plot, but it was all very tame, and the fun was appealing to all ages. So, I decided to take my soon-to-be ten year old daughter. It was a great decision.

She really enjoyed the show, as did I. The singing was phenomenal. The theater just filled with the chorus of strong voices. The cast was racially diverse. The lead role is played by Ta’rea Campbell, and her presence on stage was fabulous. Many of the songs were pure joy to listen to and watch, and the encore was one of the best I’ve ever seen.

The jokes were funny, particularly if you grew up Catholic, but that was certainly not a necessary condition. My daughter has not grown up Catholic, and she laughed often throughout the show. Any violence was minimal, mostly implied, and very obviously fake. There are some innuendoes, but at ten, they seemed to go over my daughter’s head. In fact, the show was “cleaner” than many PG movies we’ve seen. And so much better.

But as is our practice, my review is merely a lead into our kid-review. Here’s our soon-to-be-Denerian’s take on it:

Sister Act is a REALLY funny show. The music is great. It makes you want to get up and dance. My favorite character in the show was Sweaty Eddie (played by E. Clayton Cornelious). It was kind of funny that he would get all sweaty every time Dolores was near because he had a crush on her. And he had a really silly laugh. The song where he and his two friends sing about how they’re going to talk to the nuns was really, really funny. But my favorite song was “Take Me to Heaven” because it shows how hard it is to get into show business. I also liked seeing the nun’s costumes change and the part at the end with the conductor (but I won’t tell you what that is because it’s a surprise). You should definitely go see this show if you want to laugh. I think that if you take your kids to see this show, they should be ten years old or older because they might not get it if they’re younger, but anyone would like the music and dancing.

I couldn’t have said it better myself. Sister Act runs at the Academy of Music through this Sunday April 7. Go. And take the kids!