ROCKPORT — Unfortunate that Deloris Van Cartier, a struggling night club singer, witnesses a murder. More unfortunate that as a material witness she is now the target to be taken out of the picture. Convenient that she is able to hide in a convent of nuns. Convenient that the convent’s choir is in serious need of help. You start to get the idea as Camden Hills Regional High School opened the musical Sister Act, on Friday, Nov. 4, at the Strom Auditorium in Camden Hills Regional High School in Rockport.

An excellent cast, wonderful voices full of song and moments of musical magic as it all comes together in two acts. Sister Act is a fun musical and many people recognize it from the movie of the same name that starred Whoopie Goldberg as Deloris. CHRHS’s Deloris is played by Rebekah Schade. Mother Superior, played by Molly Mann, is Deloris’s nemesis through most of the show and is her staunchest supporter at the end, even willing to lay down her life for her.

Directed by CHRHS Choral Director Kim Murphy the show features excellent voices and superb acting from Schade, Mann and Sister Mary Martin-of-Tours, played by Eliza Robinson, who lends her voice to some of the musical’s more magical moments. And yes, there are those touching parts that will bring tears to your eyes.

Schade’s character adds her own nightclub style of entertainment to the convent’s choir and transforms it from an off key, cloistered band of nuns to energetic performers who want to sing the praises of God loudly and proudly. Their renaissance saves the church and gets them an audience with the Pope.

Too much publicity can be a bad thing in some cases and in this case it exposes Deloris’s hiding place to the very gangsters who are hunting her. What happens when four gangsters infiltrate a convent guarded by 18 nuns? The ensuing scenes are funny, and Eddie, of the Philadelphia Police Department, played by Gideon Beaza, saves the day and declares his love for Deloris after capturing the criminal, Curtis, played by Nick Watts and the finale of the show takes off.

Sister Act plays Friday and Saturday, Nov. 4 and 5, at 7 p.m. with a special matinee performance on Sunday, Nov. 6, at 2 p.m. The musical will finish its run with performances on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 11 and 12, also at 7 p.m. at the Strom.