STAGE REVIEW : ‘Mama, I Want to Sing’ Sequel Raises the Roof as Gospel Musical

It’s the early moments of a black gospel musical called “Mama, I Want to Sing, Part II,” and you’re dismayed by the audacity of a sequel that continues to milk the shameless Cinderella plot of a young woman who rises from a Harlem church choir to become a pop-soul singing star.

Hasn’t the rhythmic alliance between black church roots and secular fame been done to death? Suddenly, though, with foot-stomping ferocity, the question is meaningless: A drop-dead, good-looking young woman in a black-on-black mourning suit (star D’Atra Hicks) picks up the hemline of her skirt, gets down, and the explosion begins.

Out of nowhere a raucous, rotund church soloist (Kathleen Murphy) in a demure hat angled at a rakish tilt picks up the beat. “I need Jesus to carry me along the way!” she shouts, clutching her hips as her staccato heels punctuate the slap of tambourines.

Subtitled “The Story Continues,” this touring production is an updated spinoff of the original “Mama, I Want to Sing,” which played here four years ago with much of the same cast and which became the longest-running black musical--seven years--in Off Broadway history.

The sequel, which is a kind of “Dreamgirls” saga, is stronger than the original “Mama,” and, creatively, it’s again a family affair. Producer Vy Higgensen (who co-wrote the book and lyrics with her husband and the show’s director, Ken Wydro) is seen presiding as a deejay at a black-oriented radio station. From her art deco perch high in radio land, Higgensen narrates the gospel/pop odyssey of a preacher’s daughter (the svelte Hicks) who finds that stardom and love don’t mix.

Hicks’ character, called Doris Winter, is, in fact, based on the life of Higgensen’s sister, Doris Troy (who escaped the church to find real-life pop fame in the ‘60s, including the hit “Just One Look”). In a riotous scene (and private irony), Troy plays her own mother upbraiding her daughter (Hicks as Troy’s younger self) for ignoring her home and her baby.

When the growling Troy bellows at her daughter over the phone, “Girl, I’m tired of babysitting!” women in the audience howled in recognition. The child actor, who even knocks out a few chords, is Vy Higgensen and Wydro’s 7-year-old daughter, Knolle.

All this kinship could be deadly, not to mention the show’s cynical devices--which include Higgensen at the curtain call in her radio booth hawking gift certificates and discounted tickets to future performances. Such hucksterism doesn’t finally matter. This pep and piety pop/gospel opera is much more concert than it is musical drama. It’s the voices that sell.

The show’s dead spots, such as the self-help, spiritual therapy and any scene with the little girl (seen also as an infant in swaddling clothes), belie the steam heat, the beat. That includes soaring duets and the harmonic propulsion from the Choir of Mt. Calvary led by antic Charles Stewart’s Minister of Music (with original compositions by Wesley Naylor).

But let’s get to the sex. “Explosive” best describes the audience squeals for dashing, full-throated male co-star Norwood as the foxy, pony-tailed preacher who snares the vocal princess.

Norwood and Hicks sizzle together sexually, and their torchy songs are lustrous, conjuring up images, vocal and otherwise, of Luther Vandross and Whitney Houston. Seated in lounging attire on opposite sides of the stage, they share a long distance telephone duet that is uproariously erotic. The audience shrieked. This is not a sit-back show.

Mama’s in town with her daughter. And the girl can wail. And there’s a new preacher in the church. “The Story Continues” indeed.

At 8440 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, Tuesdays through Saturdays, 8 p.m., Sundays, 7:30 p.m., Saturday and Sunday matinees, 3 p.m., through July 22. $16.50-$27.50. (213) 410-1062.