Sister Act

Georgia's twin sisters, Kelly and Coco Miller, are among college basketball's best-known siblings. Another sister act from Alabama-Birmingham was almost the undoing of the third-ranked Lady Bulldogs in the opening round of the Women's Preseason NIT. UAB's Deanna Jackson scored 28 points and grabbed 18 rebounds and older sister Felicia added 10 points as the visiting Blazers pushed Georgia to the limit before losing last night, 76-75. In the end, it was clutch free throws by the Millers - Kelly scored 22 points and Coco 17 - that helped Georgia advance to tomorrow night's quarterfinals at No. 18 Virginia Tech, a 60-45 winner over Liberty.

A year ago, Kim Rochon was a ninth grader playing for the Lionville Junior High field hockey team. Thus, she wasn't expecting to see much playing time this season with the Downingtown varsity, particularly this early in the season. She has to concede that she surprised herself and a few other people Tuesday when she scored the first two goals of her high school career as the Whippets thumped host Coatesville, 7-1, in the Ches-Mont League opener for both teams. She also showed that she had learned a few things from older sister Renee.

Only heaven and producer Whoopi Goldberg know why Sister Act - the 1992 film featuring Goldberg as Deloris Van Cartier, a soul singer who spies a murder committed by her gangster boyfriend and gets witness protection in a San Francisco convent - deserves its own musical in 2013. It was cute, sure, but not exactly the type of flick people walk around quoting. Maybe changing its setting to 1970s Philly and rooting its tunes among TSOP- and Philadelphia International Records-style slow jams is an appeal to the changing demographics of the Great White Way. Maybe Goldberg just really, really liked that movie; Broadway works in mysterious ways.

Approaching the stretch of yesterday's Cotillion Handicap at Philadelphia Park, it appeared that the heavily favored Lu Ravi would overrun her seven opponents with ease. Rated behind a contested pace, Lu Ravi, with Willie Martinez in the saddle, moved up four wide on the final turn and went to the lead without urging. But after Lu Ravi took a daylight advantage in midstretch, early pacesetter Sister Act changed course to the outside under Pat Day and came on again, just failing at the wire by a nose to Lu Ravi in a thrilling finish.

Look at the face, listen to the voice. There is something about the face that rings a bell. And that voice - the voice sounds so familiar. Could this really be Barbra Streisand? No, not at all. It's Roslyn Kind, Streisand's kid sister. Kind is concluding a two-weekend engagement tonight and Saturday as part of the American Music Theater Festival's cabaret series in the Barrymore Room at the Hotel Atop the Bellevue. The show is appropriately called One of a Kind.

Up on the screen, everything is hunky-dory. But Whoopi Goldberg's nun-on- the-run comedy, Sister Act, which opened last weekend to hefty business, was a production rife with turmoil. "It was very difficult," confirms Emile Ardolino, the director (Dirty Dancing, Three Men and a Little Lady) responsible for holding the whole thing together. "It was difficult because the script was originally written for Bette Midler, and when Whoopi came in, adjustments had to be made. " The cast switch wouldn't have presented that much of a problem, except that the folks at Disney's Touchstone Pictures were intent on sticking to the original shooting schedule and allowed only two weeks for the screenplay "adjustment.

It started with Terry Carroll. She began running competitively in fourth grade and three of her sisters - Megan, Lori and Maureen - followed her. It continued at Cardinal O'Hara where the Carroll sisters were all-Catholic performers in cross-country, indoor track and outdoor track and continued when the sisters, one by one, enrolled at La Salle University. The sister act is coming to an end, however. Terry, a fifth-year senior, is finishing a career at La Salle. She looks forward to today's Penn Relays, to a possible spot at nationals and to what she hopes will be a glorious end to a stellar college career.

They know they have more game, and these days, they know exactly when to use it. Yesterday, in similar fashion, Serena Williams and her older sister, Venus, earned the right to face each other again for the U.S. Open title. First up yesterday at Arthur Ashe Stadium, Venus Williams was far from her best. But the world's No. 2 player fought off a series of crunch-time breaks with big serves against formidable Amelie Mauresmo to win, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4. Next, top seed Serena Williams reserved her championship-caliber serving for the game when former Open champion Lindsay Davenport had three straight set points.

For years, the discussion around the Keating family dinner table in Bryn Mawr has inevitably turned to field hockey - particularly Merion Mercy field hockey. That's understandable, since six of the Keating girls - there are seven along with three boys - have been involved with the Golden Bears' successful team. Senior Kimmie and junior Carly are members of the 2008 varsity. Freshman Katrina started the season on the junior varsity but has since moved up. Older sisters Kristen, Kyle and Chloe played for Merion Mercy and went on to play in college.

As a freshman volleyball player last year at Coatesville, Kindra Lewis had little experience in tight, competitive athletic situations. So when she found herself in one and made a mistake on a key point, she did what a lot of 14-year-olds will do - she cried. "We were playing a real tight match against Unionville," coach Maureen Wallace recalled. "I think we lost the first game and won the second, and it was real close in the third. Kindra wasn't used to that much pressure.

Only heaven and producer Whoopi Goldberg know why Sister Act - the 1992 film featuring Goldberg as Deloris Van Cartier, a soul singer who spies a murder committed by her gangster boyfriend and gets witness protection in a San Francisco convent - deserves its own musical in 2013. It was cute, sure, but not exactly the type of flick people walk around quoting. Maybe changing its setting to 1970s Philly and rooting its tunes among TSOP- and Philadelphia International Records-style slow jams is an appeal to the changing demographics of the Great White Way. Maybe Goldberg just really, really liked that movie; Broadway works in mysterious ways.

HOW'S THIS for an ultimate Quaker City show-biz trifecta? A musical set in Philadelphia, featuring an actor from Philadelphia in the lead role, is coming to Philadelphia. The show for which the cheesesteak-shaped stars have aligned is "Sister Act," which on Tuesday opens a six-day, eight-performance run at the Academy of Music. Based on the hit 1992 Whoopi Goldberg film comedy about a casino lounge singer hiding from gangsters in a convent, the touring stage production stars West Oak Lane native Ta'Rea (pronounced ta-REE-a)

Late Show With David Letterman (11:35 p.m., CBS3) - Matthew Broderick; Nick Griffin; We Are Augustines. The Tonight Show With Jay Leno (11:35 p.m., NBC10) - Jennifer Aniston; Adam Levine; Chiddy Bang. The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson (12:35 a.m., CBS3) - Filmmaker John Waters; Jennifer Carpenter. Late Night With Jimmy Fallon (11:35 a.m., NBC10) - Actor Paul Rudd; actress Gabrielle Union; the Broadway cast of Sister Act.

NEW YORK - Alan Menken's the guy who did it. The man who gave us the tunes from The Little Mermaid , Beauty and the Beast, Pocahontas, Aladdin, Little Shop of Horrors, and others - he did it. "Blame it on me," Menken says. "I love Philadelphia. " So when he took on the major project of composing the score for the new Broadway musical Sister Act - adapted from Whoopi Goldberg's two movies of the same name, and produced on stage in part by Goldberg - Menken began thinking "Philly sound.

NEW YORK - Dear Lord, what is that joyful noise rising to heaven from the spirited, snazzily habited stage nuns at the Broadway Theatre? Could it be - the Philadelphia Sound of the '70s? Could it be - the new Broadway musical Sister Act , fashioned from Whoopi Goldberg's movies and counting her among its producers? Is it - reset to take place in Philly? If you answered yes to all three questions, you are now free to study your catechism without interruption. Or better yet, save it for later and go get the well-worn lessons that make the American musical form work again and again: Good goes up against big-time evil, but wins.

NEW YORK - Dear Lord, what is that joyful noise rising to heaven from the spirited, snazzily habited stage-nuns at the Broadway Theatre? Could it be - the Philadelphia Sound of the '70s? Could it be - the new Broadway musical Sister Act , fashioned from Whoopi Goldberg's movies and counting her among its producers? Is it - re-set, to take place in Philly? If you answered yes to all three questions, you are now free to study your catechism without interruption. Or better yet, save it for later and go get the well-worn lessons that make the American musical form work again and again: Good goes up against big-time Evil, but wins.

Their early notice as part of the tween singing group the Clique Girlz did not, as it turned out, catapult the Monroe sisters of South Jersey to Miley Cyrus heights (though it did lead to a move to Los Angeles, where their home is a couple of miles from Miley's). And so Destinee, 15, and Paris, 13, will not be Clique Girlz when they are riding the Ikea float in the 6ABC Thanksgiving Parade, accompanied by two school choirs, or singing the national anthem at the Eagles game this Sunday, but reinvented as themselves, Destinee & Paris, back home for the holidays.

When the Central League softball season opened, the question was whether newcomer Garnet Valley was ready for the league. The Central League was considered a step up from the defunct Southern Chester County League that the Jaguars left two years ago. The real question might have been was the league ready for the Jaguars. The Jags are 13-1 overall and leading the league by a couple of games. A good deal of the Jaguars' success can be attributed to the Spina sisters - senior Courtney, junior Nicki and freshman Danielle - who are playing together for the first time in their long, despite their young ages, softball careers.

WHOOPI GOLDBERG has a world "View. " She will produce but not star in a London stage version of her hit 1992 movie "Sister Act," about an on-the-lam singer who hides out in a convent. The musical will start previews in May at the London Palladium. Goldberg will join forces with Stage Entertainment of Europe in presenting the show. "I really liked the direction they were going in," Goldberg said in a telephone interview. "It [the film] is almost 20 years old. Rather than have someone repeat what was, you have to take it and redo it. That's what they've done and they've done it really well.

For years, the discussion around the Keating family dinner table in Bryn Mawr has inevitably turned to field hockey - particularly Merion Mercy field hockey. That's understandable, since six of the Keating girls - there are seven along with three boys - have been involved with the Golden Bears' successful team. Senior Kimmie and junior Carly are members of the 2008 varsity. Freshman Katrina started the season on the junior varsity but has since moved up. Older sisters Kristen, Kyle and Chloe played for Merion Mercy and went on to play in college.