Need help with Sister Act (the musical)

February 24, 2012 9:36 AM

Have you seen the musical (not the movie) "Sister Act"? If so, you may be able to help me.

My Italian girlfriend has a friend (call her S) who went to see the musical "Sister Act" in Milano, translated into Italian. She was upset to hear some reference to St. Stephen (San Stefano) being killed by Jews. Upon complaining to the management, she was told that they simply translated the original script. S was incredulous, and asked my girlfriend to ask me if the reference is really in the English version of the musical. It's certainly not in the movie — I found a transcript of the movie dialog, and it nowhere contains any of the words Stephen, Jews, or (a bit surprisingly) Saint. But I couldn't find anything about the musical. If you have seen the musical, and have a fair opinion of your ability to remember the dialog, can you please confirm or deny this for me?

posted by ubiquity to media & arts (3 answers total)

Sadly, i have seen the musical on Broadway. The script of the play does not remotely resemble the movie, so I wouldn't use that as a reference. As for anything about St. Stephen being killed by Jews, I don't remember, sorry.
posted by greta simone at 9:44 AM on February 24, 2012

This seems to be all the lyrics to the songs, though not the dialogue. Searching "Sister Act libretto" brought up some interesting results but I don't have time to investigate them too much.

Also I don't want to sound insensitive here but ... I don't understand why this reference would be so shocking if it's there (though I think it is crappy on part of the writers to be like "HE WAS KILLED BY JEWS"). I only know the rough outlines of his story, but Wikipedia says he was tried by the Sanhedrin and killed by a mob, so I guess the mob could have been a mixed group but it seems like non-Jews wouldn't really have a reason to be offended by what he was saying.
posted by brilliantine at 10:39 AM on February 24, 2012 [2 favorites]

I asked the question without passing judgement on whether S was right to be shocked. My girlfriend relayed to me in english a story she had heard in italian from her friend who had listened to something in italian that may have been pretty hastily translated from heavily vernacular english — there are lots of opportunities here for misunderstandings and unspoken cultural biases. I merely agreed to research whether such a line appeared in the english version of the show.
posted by ubiquity at 12:14 PM on February 24, 2012 [1 favorite]