Raise your strength, raise your spirit, raise it so the angels can hear it! Raise some heat! Raise some Cain! Raise it to a higher plane! And The Long Green Valley Players are RAISING IT!!! Not only have they raised themselves up like Lazarus after a good double-decade hiatus, but they are raising up the joy— the spirit— and their voices at St. John’s this summer with their reboot-inaugural production of Sister Act. Directed and Choreographed by Vince Musgrave with Musical Direction by Producer Douglas Brandt Byerly, they are raising it all and flying through the holy cloud with grace, ease, and glory, bringing the bouncing beauty of Sister Act to the North-Easterly corner of Baltimore County.
You know it’s something when you’ve got actors flocking from Harford, Anne Arundel, Howard, Montgomery, and Baltimore County, plus Baltimore City to come and be a part of a one-weekend church-basement show. But don’t like the church-basement or the one-weekend fool you— they know their stuff and you’ll be lucky to get a ticket; it’s mostly sold out! Spatial limitations aside, and honestly they’re making impressive strides with those, the show is quite endearing, quite engaging, and overall, quite well done. There’s so much joy bouncing and bubbling through the music, the overall performances, and it really was an uplifting experience with a caliber of professionalism to it that was wholly unexpected but deeply welcomed.
Producer and Music Director Douglas Brand Byerly also serves as the show’s set designer. It’s a basic proscenium stage with a bump out and Byerly keeps things simple, but that’s not a detraction here. You get too many unnecessary moving pieces in any show and it can gum up the pacing, slow down the show’s overall trajectory, and create additional problems. Byerly deftly avoids all of that with simple pieces of scenery that cast and crew swoop on and off with, particularly the hanging painted signs (Set Artists Lauren Kean, Bibiana Stubenrauch, Jean Wimmer) to show you the Night Club, the bar, and the Cloister of Queen of Angels. There may have been one or two scenic changes that lagged behind just a second or so, but that’ll tighten as the run rolls on this weekend and ultimately— if you’ve just got one or two of those happening for your first production in 20+ years, you’re well ahead of the game.
Technically speaking, the show had far fewer complications that one might expect from community theatre. The mics had hardly any issues at all, which is almost unheard of, even at the professional level, though there was a bit of a lowered level in the beginning of the performance, which they quickly corrected and compensated for with adjustments. (Sound Master John Bushman gets the praises there.) And Byerly, leading the live pit musicians (with himself on master-keys, Joe Mannherz on drums and Jeff Morrison on bass), did a superb job of keeping them from overplaying the on-stage performers, which is no small feat considering they’re situated right below the lip of the proscenium (house right) and completely unmasked. It was nice to have a live pit, especially to cover those one or two momentary delays in scenic shift with a little key-vamping.
Lighting (Adam Byerly and Frank Rosenthal) was touch and go at times, and honestly seemed to be a shade too much in places? Like it was very effective to have advanced levels of stage lighting, but it felt a little overwhelming at times, with so many colors and different fade-ups and downs happening. It wasn’t as distracting as I’m making it sound, I’m sure, and I’m looking at it from a hyper-critical, overly-exposed viewpoint; for the average theatergoer, the show was lit, had nifty colors, and nobody stayed in darkness when they weren’t supposed to.
And the costumes (by way of Rose Costumes & Toby’s Dinner Theatre) really helped to settle the show in it’s late 1970s aesthetic. Of course, nuns are nuns and have been wearing those same habits since the 13th century (according to Mother Superior, at any rate!) but what poor Mother Superior wasn’t banking on was all the sparkle, glitz, and glamour that comes along with having ‘Sunday Morning Fever’ and the show’s “Spread The Love” Finale features all of that and a bag of holy wafers; it was pretty epic getting to see so much sparkle and sequins in holy rolling motion.
With the limited playing space, director Vince Musgrave keeps the choreography simple— utilizing a lot of box-windows and hand-gestures, but this also superbly serves the fact that you’ve got cloistered-up nuns suddenly trying to put their ‘backsides in rotation.’ The backup dancing for both Deloris in the nightclub (referred to as Fantasy Dancers— Dance Captain Lillian Colon and Ameenah Muhammad during “Take Me to Heaven/Fabulous Baby” and Colon, Ameenah, Caroline McEligot, and Nick Moline for “Fabulous Baby Reprise”) and when she’s having her 11-o’clock conscious crisis song, really showcase Musgrave’s ability to transition styles on the fly. And you get a little moving and grooving from the backup routine that Chucklehead Trio of TJ, Pablo, and Joey do as Curtis sings his “When I Find My Baby.” But where Musgrave’s choreography succeeds the most is with that holy-sister kickline during “Sunday Morning Fever” it’s just heavenly! As the show’s director, you get a lot of focus on telling the story from Musgrave’s overall stage guidance and he keeps things moving in the intimate proscenium space; his keystone-cops/Scooby-doo chase-‘ems scene during “The Chase” is delightfully well executed and humorous to boot.
It’s a smaller cast than one might expect for Sister Act, but everyone gets utilized accordingly and the vocality of the singers doesn’t sound lacking or compromised just because there are fewer of them. Douglas Brandt Byerly sees to that with great efficiency. The real miracle is getting so many talented singers to sing ‘poorly’ when they’re first being introduced as the choir (the whole bid for the show as Deloris undercover transforming this God-awful-sounding choir into something extraordinary) and to take a bunch of clearly talented singers, make them authentically lousy, ease a transitionary phase through one song from lousy to amazing— that is an impressive feat and it’s one that Byerly and the sisters pull off with flying colors during “Raise Your Voice.”
You’ve got four Choirboys— Chip Anderson, Leonard Gilbert, Nick Moline, and Dave Stromberg— who double up doing this and that, like Anderson as unfortunate Ernie, and Moline as both the ‘mistaken Drag Queen’ and our lone male fantasy dancer, mingling perfectly with our ‘ensemble sisters’— Caroline McEligot, Ally Lynch, Ameenah Muhammad, and Lillian Colon. Muhammad and Colon are Deloris’ original backup fantasy dancers and you won’t be able to take your eyes off of how expressively smiling Colon is during “Take Me To Heaven/Fabulous Baby” and you’ll find all of Muhammad’s enthusiasm bubbling up when she’s playing as a nun during the convent scenes.
Larry Ellinghaus, as Monsignor O’Hara has a great commanding relationship with Mother Superior but everyone is laughing their booties right out of the pews at his antics once the “Sunday Morning Fever” gets underway. He’s decked out like a pimped-up pope and it’s a scream. Ellinghaus forgoes the more traditional approach of giving the good father an Irish accent and honestly nobody’s noticing because he’s just so engaged with the comedic bits of his role.
Speaking of comedic bits— it comes in a trio of sprinkles—TJ (Danny Dance), Pablo (Tyrus Mataban), and Joey (Julian Vega.) And these three sprinkles are the perfect topping to the Villains Curtis (Jae Jones.) While Dance, Mataban, and Vega take up the comedic side of the darkness, when it comes to antagonizing characters, they serve in perfect opposition to Jones’ darker, more frightening characterization. There is an icy-death stare in Jones’ eyes when he sings “When I Find My Baby” and it’s unsettling to put it mildly. He maintains that edgy darkness to his character portrayal with superior consistency and never cracks, making him that much more intense in some of those really scary moments. Dance might just be the ringleader of the three adorable comedic clowns, his background chewing antics are aces and he leads Mataban and Vega through what is arguably the most intentionally hilarious and equal parts stupid-humor number in the show “Lady in the Long Black Dress.” Though when the trio appears for “The Chase” in their Nun-gear…it’s epically uproarious.
Sister Mary Theresa (Ally Lynch), Sister Mary Martin-of-Tours (Courtney Zacharias) and Sister Mary Lazarus (Mona Krevsky) are our pyramid of support when it comes to the sisterhood of the traveling habit! Lynch, Zacharias, and Krevsky have their own popping personalities that really bring these three cameo characters to zesty and zany life— Zacharias in particular as she manages to work that “Barabas” reference into a recurrent callback and it grows in hilarity every time she lets it rip— they’re a true and proper trip. And when Krevsky starts bouncing to her ramble-patter during “Raise Your Voice” it’s unhinged in the best way possible; check out her rapping segment in “Sunday Morning Fever” as well, she has the audience cracking up. Lynch masters the comedic execution with that walking cane during “The Chase” and wins the audiences’ affections with her lightning quick moves in that scene too.
If you want the vocality back in their respective habits— our little postulant, Sister Mary Robert (Leah Freeman) and Sister Mary Patrick (Lizzy Jackson Fleischman) are where it’s at. Fleischmann is so syrupy sparkling sweet it’s saccharine to the point of dizzying with delight. There’s a level of explosive joy erupting from Fleishcmann’s character that is just unparallelled in this production, making her the absolute perfect fit for the Mary Patrick character. When she and Freeman follow Deloris to the bar across the street— their antics and general shenanigans with the disco ball lights and their attempts to dance are so wholeheartedly innocent and hilarious you’re torn between busting a gut laughing and wanting to just gush at their overt naivete. Fleischman has a tremendous vocal talent to lend to her character and you hear it most profoundly during “Raise Your Voice.” Freeman, playing opposite of that level of extroverted goodness, is the most awkward, shy, downtrodden, quieted, introverted sister you’ll ever meet. When she finally hits her breakout at th end of “Raise Your Voice” hold onto your folding chairs because she’s going to blast you away. Watching Freeman act her way through the character, particularly the way Mary Robert grows into her own and the very touching bond she forms with Deloris is heartwarming. And when she blasts into “The Life I Never Led” once again the audience is delighted with her astonishing vocal capabilities.
If you want raise-the-roof level vocals, Jasmine Lachae Mays-Robinson is bringing them to you in spades. A little milder in the personality department, showing the audience a more demure side of Deloris, Mays-Robinson is nailing those vocally intense moments— particularly during “Raise Your Voice” and “Take Me To Heaven.” And her finest character-to-character interaction is during that whole scene that leads into “Bless Our Show” and what follows after. There’s an adorable agitation where all she wants to do is go back to sleep but the sisters won’t let her, and then when that confession (that the audience knows from jump street) has to come out, the way she connects with each of the other nun on stage is truly beautiful. The mental anguish of “Fabulous Baby Reprise/Sister Act” is palpable and once again a glorious expression of Mays-Robinson’s vocal capabilities.
There’s a vocal zillion-watt smile going on inside Lucas White’s singing, which is great because his character is so dang nerdy and awkward that you’re utterly torn between laughing him off the stage and hugging him with a hook to get him off the stage. The dance moves are intentionally horrible— the whitest of white-boy moves that just scream “I have no rhythm, am an awkward turtle and there isn’t enough pity in the world for me” which is feral fantasticalness at its finest, especially when you pair that weirdness in raw juxtaposition to White’s operatic vocals. Zero coolness in the game department, ten-thousand points in the voice box. White does a phenomenal job of balancing that stunning, hot-to-trot voice into the ‘sweaty Eddie’ lack-o-confidence character. “I Could Be That Guy” is equal parts powerhouse vocals, nerd-tastic dancing, and awkward confidence that got him halfway to both; it’s an unhinged collection of character and performer that is just hands down an earnest hoot to experience. It’s this wild experience of wanting to laugh yourself to tears at the way he brings that character to laugh but also just clutching at your pearls for how stunning his voice truly is.
And as for stunning, Meli Mullin Hartsoe is like that star over Bethlehem on Christmas night; shining, radiant, attempting to guide the wise to where they ought to be. There is subtlety and nuance and balance in her portrayal as Reverend Mother and the way she approaches the vocality of “I Haven’t Got a Prayer” is gold-medal-Olympic-winning gymnastics for shifting through that song in mezzo-chest to soprano-head and making it sound sublime, feel intentional, and land as if she’s the creature at her utter wit’s end whilst still maintaining the humor of the number’s lyrics. Watching that number alone is like a masterclass study in how to be an actor in musical theatre; it’s extremely impressive. Hartsoe really delves into the Mother Superior character— a little bit of sarcasm, a little bit of piety, a little bit of grace, a little bit of frustration, a little bit of confusion, and a whole lot of personality. Watching her facial expressions and how deeply invested and committed she is in utilizing them to express her portions of the story is a phenomenal experience. There’s a moment— right when the Monsignor announces that they’ll be performing for the Pope— the unadulterated joy of “prayers have been answered” flashes across Hartsoe’s face. And then you get to watch her face fall in slow-motion as she watches all her sisters dancing the Deloris way and the abject “oh-my-holy-God” of dawning realization that melts into place on her features; it’s a show-stopping micro-moment that show deep character introspection and reflection. Watching her horrifically shocked face when she’s taking all of Deloris’ earthly possessions early on is pretty hysterical too, especially when she uses the iconic nun ruler to put the lingerie and handcuffs into the box. Hartsoe shows us some zany breakout dance moves during “Spread the Love” as well and it’s totally worth the wait.
It’s a remarkably polished production, an epic high-bar launch for the reboot of The Long Green Valley Players; one not to miss if it can be helped! Sister Act only has three remaining performances and say a prayer you can get a ticket, they’re pretty booked up!
Running Time: Approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes with one intermission
Sister Act plays through August 23rd 2026 with The Long Green Valley Players at St. John The Evangelist— 13305 Long Green Pike, Hydes, MD 21082. Tickets are available at the door and in advance by calling (410) 592-6206.
