Different generations have grown up watching the 1992 film “Sister Act,” which tells the story of nightclub singer Deloris Van Cartier hiding out from mobsters in a convent and finding sisterhood and her own voice while leading a choir of nuns. The musical version, which features a score from Tony and Oscar winner Alan Menken, tells a similar story as the movie but with a few twists and original music.
Saguaro City Music Theatre will put on the musical Saturday, Oct. 10 to Sunday, Oct 25.
This is Saguaro City’s first show since taking over management of the historic Berger Performing Arts Center. They will be performing their own shows in the space and renting it out to other community organizations and artists.
The company is kicking off their 2026-2027 season with “Sister Act.” They will also produce “Disney’s The Little Mermaid” and “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.”
The production will star internationally-known singer Crystal Stark as Deloris Van Cartier. Stark, who made it to the semifinals on “American Idol,” first performed with Saguaro City for “Million Dollar Quartet.”
She has also appeared on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” “The Today Show, “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” “Regis & Kelly” and “The Tonight Show” and performed for Senator Bernie Sanders and President Barack Obama. She has toured with Katharine McPhee as a backup singer and sung backup and played keyboard for Grammy and Academy-Award winner Jon Batiste.
Stark, who grew up in Tucson and is a University of Arizona alum, has starred in productions that pay tribute to artists such as Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Donna Summer, Ella Fitzgerald, Tina Turner and Diana Ross.
Saguaro City’s production also features Jodi Darling as Mother Superior, Steve Waite as Deloris’ gangster boyfriend Curtis Jackson, Missy Paschke-Wood as overly cheerful, exuberant nun Sister Mary Patrick, Meagan Materazo as shy and soft-spoken nun Sister Mary Robert, Robert Voigt as Philadelphia police officer Eddie Souther, Zach Wetzel as Monsignor O’Hara and Gretchen Wirges as grouchy, sharp-tongued nun Sister Mary Lazarus.
The other nuns in the convent are being portrayed by a mixture of new and returning actresses.
The show has a cast of 22 actors.
Four teens will be featured in ensemble roles. Dena DiGiacinto, managing director and director of education for Saguaro City and choreographer for “Sister Act,” said the show gives them an opportunity to learn from professional actors and grow as performers.
“We have several teens who have been working so hard in our programs and our other productions. They’re definitely ready for this kind of a challenge,” DiGiacinto said.
For Stark, “Sister Act” is a dream show.
Stark grew up watching the film “Sister Act,” which stars Whoopi Goldberg as Deloris Van Cartier/Sister Mary Clarence. She said to this day, the movie continues to be one of her favorites.
“I watch it every time it’s on TV. If it’s on, everything I’m doing stops…. I remember being little and watching a black actress be the lead and be so fabulous, in the script where it wasn’t a black actress as the lead in a black movie. It was a black actress as the lead of a movie for all races and all ages…. I think being able to watch Whoopi had a huge impact on me of ‘Wow, I could do that. That could be me,”’ Stark said.
Stark is a music director at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church, where she was able to do “Hail Holy Queen” from the film with the choir.
“I kept telling them, ‘It doesn’t need to be memorized. We’re not gonna do any choreography. Nothing like that.’ By the end, it was fully memorized. We had full choreography, and it was so much fun. I got to live my Sister Mary Clarence dreams in real life,” Stark said.
“Million Dollar Quartet” was the first musical that Stark had ever done. She said it was a completely different experience for her working with a team.
“What struck me was how many people are working together towards the same goal. As a solo artist who creates my own shows, does my own costuming and my own scripting, gets myself to the gig, everything, I’m used to being a one-woman everything. To come into an environment where there’s so many people working on so many different things, and everyone was excited and had fantastic ideas, was such a breath of fresh air,” Stark said.
Stark has found that she can really relate to her character in “Sister Act” because of her love for music.
“Some of the lines crack me up, how she is wanting to do a Donna Summer show and be Donna Summer. I have a Donna Summer show that I’ve done all over. She’s obsessed with the white fur and long white gown…. That’s the main image that I sourced when I was doing my Donna Summer show, when I was doing my own costumes…I remember aspiring to do this and how hard it is to break into the business and to just have a joy of music and teaching others music. I was a public-school teacher for eight years. So, I find myself in this script a lot,” Stark said.
The show crosses different genres and styles of music.
“There’s some girl group stuff that Deloris does. There’s some choral stuff that the nuns are doing. There’s definitely harmonized stuff. There’s some stuff that leans disco, that leans soul. The score is by Alan Menken. So, you have these songs with beautiful melodies. Mother Superior sings a really beautiful ballad song. Towards the end, there’s these really heartwarming songs,” Stark said.
DiGiacinto said they had Stark in mind when they were thinking of doing “Sister Act.”
“With ‘Million Dollar Quartet,’ we just loved working with Crystal. She was phenomenal in the show. We were really excited to find another opportunity to work with her. I remember the two of us sitting at lunch one day and talking about ‘what shows would you want to do, Crystal?’ I don’t think there was like a split second before she mentioned ‘Sister Act,’” DiGiacinto said.
DiGiacinto said the ‘70s style of music and dance in the show are a good fit with her own background.
“I listened to a lot of ’70s music when I was growing up, and I did the musical ‘Saturday Night Fever’ for years. I was dancing to that music for a long period of time… Deloris and her backup singers sing the same song at the very beginning of the show that all of the nuns in the choir sing at the end of act one. The translation from a trio into 12 nuns doing this choreography that Deloris dreamed up, it’s so funny and fun… There’s also an emotional aspect to it for me, sharing that love of music and movement and expression of joy and faith with a big group. It’s very powerful,” DiGiacinto said.
DiGiacinto hopes that audience members will feel compelled to get up and dance in the aisles as they did during “Million Dollar Quartet.”
The show is set in 1977, and the costumes fit with that time period. Drew Humphrey, Saguaro City’s CEO and producing artistic director and the director of “Sister Act,” said the show will have pieces inspired by Donna Summer as well as regular street clothes worn during that period.
“When you get to do a musical in that time period, that energy needs to live throughout the set, the costumes, the wigs and the makeup. When all that aligns, then people feel like they’re being transported back to another time,” Humphrey said.
Humphrey remembers watching “Sister Act” in the movie theater growing up.
“It was the ‘Honey, I Shrunk the Kids’ and ‘Batman’ era…I remember a line out the door on a Friday night to go see a movie with your family, and this show was one of those. I remember being there with Mom, Dad and my sister seeing ‘Sister Act’ and just being blown away by how wonderful it was to experience and enjoy as a family. It’s so clear, it’s palpable. I can smell the popcorn,” Humphrey said.
Humphrey said doing an iconic show that so many people have fond memories of can be a challenge.
“All of us working on this project have a little bit of ‘Sister Act’ stored away in our hearts and our minds. Everyone’s memory is always going to be a little different. Our responsibility is to honor our memory and love the piece because we can’t be everything for everyone….I think if we can all get on the same page of not trying to chase someone else’s memory but to honor our own, then I think then we can carry that spirit and nostalgia for everyone else,” Humphrey said.
Humphrey said that “Sister Act” continues to resonate with audiences because it tells an important story of an artist finding her voice, discovering who she is and finding friendship with a group of women.
“Deloris is trying to be everybody, trying to be Donna Summer, trying to be Tina Turner, trying to be everybody but herself. I think it takes time in the convent with the sisters…They both learn from each other. Deloris learns how to be part of a group and to trust herself, and then the sisters find their own voices. Sister Mary Robert comes out of her shell and finds her own voice. I think the duality of being a part of a sisterhood and having your own identity is what the finale really celebrates,” Humphrey said.
Saguaro City Music Theatre’s production of “Sister Act”
WHEN: Saturday, Oct. 10-Sunday, Oct. 25
WHERE: Berger Performing Arts Center, 1200 W. Speedway Boulevard, Tucson
COST: Tickets $29-$71
MORE INFO: saguarocity.org
