Whoop It Up

The 1970s are popular in a way they haven’t been since the first time around. (Back in the ’70s, the ’70s were everywhere you looked.) Is it cause or effect that Sister Act the stage musical is set in that synthetic, lapel-spanning era? Either way, the sense of nostalgic innocence...

By Julie Peterson

June 20, 2013

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The 1970s are popular in a way they haven’t been since the first time around. (Back in the ’70s, the ’70s were everywhere you looked.) Is it cause or effect that Sister Act the stage musical is set in that synthetic, lapel-spanning era? Either way, the sense of nostalgic innocence helps an audience get into the fun, and so does a score full of tunes by Alan Menken (The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast). If that doesn’t make up for chanteuse-turned-nun Deloris Van Cartier failing to teach the sisters any Motown girl-group hits, as she did in the 1992 Whoopi Goldberg film -- well, you’ll always have Netflix.

Catch the old-is-new spectacular, fresh from its 2011 Broadway debut, through Sunday, June 30, at Gammage Auditorium, 1200 South Forest Avenue in Tempe. Wednesday, June 26’s curtain is at 7:30 p.m. and seats start at $20 before fees at www.ticketmaster.com or 800-982-2787.

June 25-29, 7:30 p.m.; Sat., June 29, 2 p.m.; Sun., June 30, 1 & 6:30 p.m., 2013

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Julie has written for the Night & Day events calendar section since 2005. As a student at Arizona State, she received the Glendon and Kathryn Swarthout Creative Writing Award and the Theatre Medallion of Merit.

Contact: Julie Peterson