It's Official: Douglas Carter Beane Joins SISTER ACT Team

Producers Whoopi Goldberg and Stage Entertainment have announced that Tony and Olivier award nominee Douglas Carter Beane will provide additional book material to the upcoming musical SISTER ACT, working alongside Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning book-writers Cheri and Bill Steinkellner. Previews begin March 24 at the Broadway Theatre (1681 Broadway); opening night is April 20.

With an original score by multi-Academy, Grammy and Golden Globe Award-winning composer Alan Menken and lyrics by Tony and Academy Award-nominee Glenn Slater, SISTER ACT is directed by four-time Tony Award winner Jerry Zaks, features choreography by Tony and Olivier Award nominee Anthony Van Laast and is based on the Touchstone Pictures motion picture Sister Act written by Joseph Howard.

"We're really excited to have Douglas Carter Beane join the Sister Act creative team," said producer Bill Taylor. "Everyone is very much looking forward to building on the wonderful story we already have, and that proved such a success in London, and I know that Broadway audiences are in for a big treat when we reveal what this talented group of writers has up its sleeve."

Douglas Carter Beane received a Tony Award nomination and the Drama Desk Award for the book of the musical Xanadu. His play, The Little Dog Laughed, was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play and was recently nominated for an Olivier Award for Best New Play. Other plays include As Bees in Honey Drown (Outer Critics Circle Gassner Award), Mr. & Mrs. Fitch, Music From a Sparkling Planet, The Country Club, Advice From a Caterpillar, The Cartells. He has also written the books for the musicals The Big Time, The Bandwagon, and Lysistrata Jones, which will be produced off-Broadway this spring following an acclaimed run at the Dallas Theater Center, as well as the revues Mondo Drama and White Lies. Screenplays include Advice From a Caterpillar (Aspen Comedy Festival Best Feature) and To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar. As Artistic Director of the Drama Dept., he produced more than 40 productions including revivals of As Thousands Cheer, June Moon and The Torchbearers and world premieres by Paul Rudnick, David Sedaris and Wendy Wasserstein.

Book writers CHERI & Bill Steinkellner have earned eight Emmy awards (from twenty nominations), four Golden Globes, two BAFTAs, a People's Choice, Parent's Choice, Writers' Guild Award, World Animation Award, Luminas, Annie, and TV-Land Legend Award for writing/producing Cheers, and creating Disney's highly-acclaimed animated series and feature film, Teacher's Pet. They also enjoy the distinction of having written one of TV Guide's Top Three "Funniest Television Episodes of All Time" for Cheers. Other TV includes The Jeffersons, Who's The Boss, Facts of Life and Family Ties. On Broadway Bill co-wrote this season's The Pee-Wee Herman Show (HBO special airs March 2011), off-Broadway Cheri co-wrote Mosaic (Inner Voices Series/Primary Stages, 2010) and in the West End they wrote the book for Sister Act (Olivier and Theatergoer's Choice nominations for Best New Musical). Regional premieres include the books for Sister Act (Pasadena Playhouse, Alliance Theater Atlanta) and Princesses (Goodspeed Theatre, 5th Avenue Theatre); Book and New Lyrics (Cheri) for Hello! My Baby (Goodspeed's Festival of New Artists 2011, Rubicon Theatre/2010 Festival of New American Musicals). Bill and Cheri met as charter members of L.A. comedy troupe The Groundlings, where Bill co-wrote and directed the original Pee-Wee Herman Show and On The Road with Guy Di Simone. Other theater includes Drama-logue Award winning Our Place, Jailbirds on Broadway and Instaplay - LA's original and longest-running improvised musical-comedy. Bill is the best-selling author of Postcards From The Moon and the popular blog, Greetings From Bill.

The Broadway company of SISTER ACT will feature Olivier Award-nominee Patina Miller as Deloris Van Cartier, Tony Award-winner Victoria Clark as Mother Superior, Fred Applegate as Monsignor, Sarah Bolt as Sister Mary Patrick, John Treacy Egan as Joey, Demond Green as TJ, Chester Gregory as Eddie, Kingsley Leggs as Curtis, Marla Mindelle as Sister Mary Robert, Audrie Neenan as Sister Mary Lazarus and Caesar Samayoa as Pablo.

The ensemble of SISTER ACT includes: Jennifer Allen, Natalie Bradshaw, Charl Brown, Christina DeCicco, Holly Davis, Madeleine Doherty, Alan H. Green, Blake Hammond, Wendy James, Carrie A. Johnson, Kevin Ligon, Louise Madison, Marissa Perry, Ernie Pruneda, Corbin Reid, Lance Roberts, Rashidra Scott, Jennifer Simard, Lael Van Keuren, Roberta Wall and Alena Watters.
When disco diva Deloris Van Cartier witnesses a murder, she is put in protective custody in the one place cops are sure she won't be found - a convent! Disguised as a nun, she finds herself at odds with both the rigid lifestyle and an uptight Mother Superior. Using her fabulous disco-ness and killer voice to inspire the choir, Deloris breathes new life into the church and community, but in doing so blows her cover. Soon it's nun-on-the-run time but she finds salvation in the heavenly power of her newly found sisterhood. Based on the mega-hit feature film, SISTER ACT features an original Alan Menken/Glenn Slater score with a vast inspiration of musical styles from Motown, soul and funk to great big disco anthems and Barry White inspired musical comedy.
SISTER ACT will feature scenery by Klara Zieglerova, costumes by Lez Brotherston, lighting by Natasha Katz, and sound by John Shivers. The music department includes Musical Supervisor Michael Kosarin, Music Director Brent-Alan Huffman, and orchestrations by Doug Besterman.

SISTER ACT will be performed at the Broadway Theatre (1681 Broadway) on the following schedule from March 24 - April 17: Monday - Saturday at 8pm and Saturday at 2pm with added performances on Wednesday, April 6 at 2pm, Wednesday, April 13 at 2pm, Sunday, April 24 at 3pm. There will be no performance on Thursday, April 21 at 8pm.

Beginning April 25, the performance schedule will be: Tuesday at 7pm, Wednesday - Saturday at 8pm, Wednesday and Saturday at 2pm, and Sunday at 3pm.
Tickets, ranging in price from $51.50 - $126.50, can be purchased via www.telecharge.com or by calling 212-239-6200.

For more information, please visit www.sisteractthemusical.com.

 

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/WM Photos