Saguaro City’s ‘Sister Act’ needed boost from above

Because of all the productions that Saguaro City artistic partners Drew Humphrey and Dena DiGiacinto have brought to the stage since their inaugural production in December 2022, this show was the only one that almost got away.

“This show has been stewing for many a year, waiting for the timing to work out,” Humphrey said. “This was a show that we were interested in producing; we just needed to wait for the right time.”

They thought that time was when they secured the production rights about a year ago.

They also had a commitment from Tucson in-demand vocalist/actress Crystal Stark to star as Sister Mary Clarence, aka Dolores Van Cartier, the lounge singer forced to seek refuge in a convent to avoid the wrath of her mobster boyfriend.

And just when they thought they could put out the casting call for the rest of the nuns and Mother Superior, Arizona Schools for the Deaf and the Blind, home of the Berger where Saguaro City performs, announced plans early last January to close its West Speedway campus and sell the property after the school year ended in May.

“ASDB shutting down and the loss of the Berger meant we had rights to a musical that we had no place to put it on,” Humphrey recalled on the first day of “Sister Act” rehearsals late last month. “We had to reach out to Crystal and say, ‘We've got these rights. We want to do this show with you. We have nowhere to do it’.”

Saguaro City didn’t want to do the show without Stark, who had been in the cast for Saguaro City’s production of “Million Dollar Quartet” in 2024.

“People kept calling Crystal to book her out … and we had to keep saying, ‘If you've got to go, you got to go’,” Humphrey said. “And she held on with faith, and we held on with faith. The stars had to align again.”

To make the stars align, Saguaro City started talks with ASDB about leasing the Berger. After some back and forth, the school agreed.

Saguaro City took over operations on July 1. In addition to using the Berger for its own productions, the theater company also leases it to other organizations.

“All the stars aligned for this,” Stark said. “I just held on to hope and everything worked out. I definitely feel very blessed to be in this position and to be able to to play this role.”

“Sister Act” is based on the 1992 film starring Whoopi Goldberg as Dolores Van Cartier, a lounge singer with big dreams of being a superstar. After she witnesses her mobster boyfriend kill a man, police put her in protective custody in a convent, where she assumes the identity of Sister Mary Clarence.

After sneaking out of the convent, the Reverend Mother orders Sister Mary Clarence to become choir director, a role that Dolores initially pooh-poohs until she sees her impact on the nuns and the choir.

Stark said she shares some of the traits of her “Sister Act” character; aside from witnessing her mob boyfriend kill a man, she joked.

“There's so much stuff that I can relate to. I have performed a Donna Summer tribute show for years, and Dolores Van Cartier is obsessed with Donna Summer and wants to be a big superstar like her,” Stark said, adding that like her character, she, too, has been a church music director. “It's kind of weirdly all things that I'm very familiar with wrapped up in one role.”

In addition to Stark, the cast includes Jodi Darling as Mother Superior; Steve Waite as mob boss Curtis Jackson; Robert Voigt as the police officer Eddie Souther; Zach Wetzel as Monsignor O’Hara; Missy Paschke-Wood as Sister Mary Patrick; Megan Materazo as Sister Mary Robert; and Gretchen Wirges as Sister Mary Lazarus.

Saguaro City opens “Sister Act” with two performances — at 2 and 7 p.m. — Saturday, Oct. 10. It runs weekends through Oct. 25.