T! G! I! F!
An urgent read that is worth your time, as well as your action: The Washington Post reports on the dire straits of diaper banks during the pandemic.
For anyone else who’s reached the point where they forget whether a conversation is one they had in real life or just one you listened to on a podcast, you might find this New York Times multimedia interrogation of “podcast voice” interesting.
Now, what you came for…
DAY 358: Sister Act (available on Disney+)
Now that Whoopi Goldberg is now mostly just making headlines with viral putdowns of Meghan McCain on The View, it’s easy to forget what a comedic force she can be. (And a fantastic actress, too — her line reading of “Molly … you in danger, girl” from Ghost has to be one of the medium’s all-time greats.) So maybe it’s time to revisit the raucous Sister Act to remind yourself how sweet a sight is to see Whoopi in her element, enlivening any scene with her boisterous energy.
Goldberg stars as Deloris Wilson, a Reno lounge singer forced into the witness protection program after seeing her gangster boyfriend whack an informant. Her assignment is quite the opposite of her previous free-wheeling existence as the police decide to place her in the last place anyone might expect to find her: a nunnery. Beyond being the only Black member of the convent, Deloris is not exactly too keen on the obedience, chastity and poverty part of the new job description. With little other options to reign in her incorrigible addition, the Reverend Mother (Maggie Smith) tasks Deloris with working her magic on the nuns’ choir.
Little does the uptight abbess know, she’s getting far more than she bargained for when Deloris begins putting a Motown stamp on church classics. She might consider it blasphemous, but a little dash of show business flair does a little good for struggling church attendance. Her influence also portends a larger shift in the San Francisco parish of looking outward rather than merely navel-gazing. Sister Act is a powerful testament to the idea that contemporary churches should look to understand, not demonize, alternate forms of expression that bring people together.
Maybe it’s missing a rousing religious service or pining for live music, but I’ve found myself returning again and again to watch the musical numbers from Sister Act recently. They’re well-orchestrated and pleasant listens, sure. But they’re also such a wonderful presentation of Deloris’ rebellious yet sincere spirit, peppered in with the odd humorous outburst from the eccentric nuns played by Kathy Najimy and Wendy Makkena.
Be good to yourselves and to each other,
Marshall