Contrary to what you may expect from a musical adaptation of the 1992 movie “Sister Act” (and to what some reviews said), the score of the ridiculously fun show that just opened on Broadway doesn’t pay tribute to Motown: It actually leans toward TSOP — the sound of Philadelphia — to quote a famous track by MFSB.
The musical has been reset from contemporary Reno to 1978 Philly, and on the big disco numbers composer Alan Menken shows he knows his Gamble & Huff. There are also allusions to Donna Summer, particularly “Bad Girls” (OMG, look at her on Johnny Carson!), and the silkiest come-ons and by the Stylistics and the Spinners. I would bet that orchestrator Doug Besterman and dance arranger Mark Hummel have paid attention to the work of Vincent Montana Jr., who led MFSB then the Salsoul Orchestra (click here, if you dare, for Salsoul’s 10-minute-long disco medley of “West Side Story”).
Not Philly at all but decidedly sisterly, I suspect Menken winked at Soeur Sourire, aka the Singing Nun, in the jaunty “It’s Good to Be a Nun.”