Get Ready for a Divine Time When SISTER ACT Comes to the Wharton Center, Feb. 12-17

Sister Act, the Tony Award nominated musical, is coming to the Wharton Center and Hollis Resnik, who plays Mother Superior, knows the audience will be in for a fun time. "It will make you smile and feel really good about yourself and your life," she says.

Sister Act is based on the well-known film starring Whoopi Goldberg. The film takes place in 1992, but the musical version takes place in 1978. "It has a wonderful score by Alan Menken that is very indicative of that disco time period," says Resnik. "The story is basically the same except now there are lots of sequins, mirror balls, and a great, big group of singing and acting nuns."

The story of the show is about Deloris who witnesses a crime and then has to hide in a convent under the watchful eye of Mother Superior. "I really like Mother Superior because she's a good, good soul and wants her convent to run smoothly and quietly," she says. "She has this great journey during the show because she butts heads with Deloris who comes to hide in her convent. A great part of the show is seeing the two of them come together and finding an understanding at the end." Resnik considers Mother Superior to have a really interesting journey. She also enjoys that she has a lot of great one-liners through out the show and two wonderful songs to sing.

Resnik is a stage and television veteran with a long list of roles on her resume. "I've done a little bit of everything" is how she describes her career. She grew up outside of Cleveland, Ohio where she was exposed to the arts at a young age and started in musical theatre. "I've been really fortunate because I've been a working a actor since I've gotten out of college," she says, "I moved to Chicago, started auditioning, and the rest is history." Before this tour, Resnik recently did Angels in America and Grey Gardens. She was in the Goodman Theatre's Candide as The Old Woman which she won her tenth Jeff Award for and has also been nominated seventeen times as well.

Although she has done many touring productions, including playing Fantine in the national tour of Les Misreables, Resnik loves this company and this production. "We just have a good time on and off the stage," she says. "The company is great and we have a lot of fun and get the crowd on their feet." Resnik thinks because everyone knows the story of Sister Act and that is has a happy ending that people can just sit back and enjoy it. "Mother Superior has these great conversations with God and Deloris is always getting in her way, but it's watching the journey of it all come together that is enjoyable," she says. "It's a real feel good story about true friendship and understanding, which is accompanied by a great group of actors and music."

Sister Act runs February 12^th through the 17^th at the Wharton Center on Michigan State University's campus in East Lansing. For more information or tickets, visit www.whartoncenter.com.

Katie Laban is BroadwayWorld�s Detroit Contributing Editor and a freelance writer and photographer in the Detroit area. She also writes for Hear Magazine. She has a strong passion for all things creative, especially theatre, and loves to support Michigan arts.

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