Stacy Francis comes clean.

Ask Stacy Francis, star of the gospel-based "Sing and Shout," which plays in Honolulu tomorrow and Saturday at the Blaisdell Arena.

"I guess you could say the Lord first hit with me a pebble, then a rock, and finally a boulder to get my attention," Francis, 23, said in a telephone interview from Tokyo. "Now I couldn't be happier or better."

Francis had been the youngest singer of the R&B group ExGirlfriend. Despite the group's growing success she was crying herself to sleep because of performance requirements that didn't set right with her religious upbringing.

"I was troubled by what I was doin'," she said. "I grew up in the church, a pastor's kid, a PK. And here I was singing and doin' stuff I was embarrassed to tell people about. The lyrics were quite sexual, very explicit; people knew us for that."

But the group's contract, Francis said, required them to sing whatever they were given and dance the way it was choreographed.

"I felt so uncomfortable, but I was young and confused and I didn't really know who I was so I just kept on doin what I was told."

After about four years with ExGirlfriend, Francis was asked to rejoin the musical play "Mama, I Want to Sing" in London. Francis, who had performed with the show when she was 15, jumped at the chance.

Life was imitating art?

"Mama" is a play about a young girl who grows up in the church but is very adamant about her dream to sing R&B. The girl's mother doesn't want her to do it but relents and the young singer becomes very successful. Eventually, however, - and like Francis - she returns to the church.

When Francis arrived in London for "Mama" she learned she would be sharing an apartment with a preacher.

"I think that was the boulder from God trying to get my attention. Every day I'd wake up and go to sleep to the gospel. It was in my face all the time. If I didn't get it then, I would never get it."

Francis got it.

"Sing and Shout" features eight cast members performing traditional contemporary gospel music but in concert form, not a play. The songs date from the early 1970s; costumes are simple choir robes; the set resembles a church.

"People get to see African-American church music. We praise God through music."

Though "Sing and Shout" is a performance, the singers are not acting about their religious values.

"It's real," Francis says. "We are all saved."

But there is no proselytizing, she emphasizes.

"That would be such a turnoff. We entertain. If you love music and good singing that's what we provide."

If you doubt that, know that "Mama" sold out each of its 12 appearances in Japan and "Sing" is doing the same.

"Gospel music is inspirational music. And despite language differences, people feel that inspiration because it's so emotional ...

"I could never understand why people were fainting and falling down when they saw Michael Jackson. What was that about?

"But when I go out and sing Mariah Carey's 'Hero' in this concert and tell people that there's a hero inside them, we have people crying and jumping up and down.

They get it."

Francis, like the girl in "Mama," still hopes to have a solo R&B career despite some protests from fellow cast members that religion and R&B philosophies don't mix.

"They say I can't say I've been saved ... then go out and grab my crotch or wear those short, sexy dresses.

"Brandy doesn't grab her crotch or wear those short things and she still sells millions of records and maintains her self respect. That's the way I'll be."

Part of her need for musical diversity may be, she suggests, because she comes from a biracial family: Her Jewish father is white; Baptist mom is black.

"People say I'm African American. I say, 'No, I'm both' and that makes me doubly blessed."

Francis feels confident enough now to to follow her beliefs "to do the right thing."

"If you're sitting in mud and you can get up and walk away from it, you do that or stay dirty the rest of your life.

"I told myself that I really believed in God and this is what I want to sing about. I knew he would bring me to a place where I wanted to be. I finally got it."

What: Musical revue by Harlem's Reach Ensemble
When: 8 p.m. Friday; and 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday
Where: Blaisdell Concert Hall
Cost: $15, $23, $29; with $3 discount for seniors, military and children under 12 years old. Available from Connection outlets, or call 545-4000
Information: 591-2211