Lyric’s ‘Nunsense’ a sinfully good time
Take five wise-cracking, singing nuns, add a set from the hit Broadway show “Vaseline,” throw in an overabundance of irreverent humor and top it off with four dead nuns frozen in a freezer and you end up with the a delightfully wicked and sinfully fun musical “Nunsense.”
The show centers around the efforts of five sisters who are trying to raise money to bury the last four sisters poisoned by Sister Julia Child-of-God’s soup. Throughout the show we come to know and love each of the five characters. They include the Reverend Mother (Edythe Isaacson Wagstaff) who grew up walking the high wire and Sister Mary Amnesia (Carey Hanson) who doesn’t remember who she is. Sister Mary Hubert (Jill Hoffman) is the mistress of novices, Sister Mary Robert (Maribeth Evensen-Hengge) is a streetwise nun who grew up in Brooklyn and Sister Mary Leo (Vanessa Ballam Brenchley) dreams of being a famous ballerina.
The Lyric’s production of the show was perhaps one of the best performances I’ve seen there in my three summers in Logan. The cast complimented each other in the way this show needs. This is an ensemble show, there are no leads and supporting roles, and each member of the cast seemed to understand and work towards this concept.
The one area the cast did not compliment each other was vocally. All five ladies have wonderful voices, but when singing together one or two seemed to overpower the rest. Instead of adding to the rich harmonies of singing as a group, they sang solos that drowned out the other three.
Wacky humor is central to this show, and the cast members were great at milking the audience for every laugh they could get. Some of the most delightful moments from the show occurred when the audience participated such as the pop quiz. If you’re lucky you could even win a glow-in-the-dark rosary.
The local humor added to the show (such as the flowers from the Relief Society) also helped the audience identify with it more. “Nunsense” originally opened off Broadway, and musical theater fans will delight in the witty references and jabs at other shows more in the mainstream.
The band was great. They were small, but they packed a wallop, and the music they played before the show set the mood of wacky fun that carried through the evening.
Overall this was more than a great show. It was a spectacular interactive theatrical experience. Some may be offended by some of the religious humor in the show, but this guilty pleasure is worth the trip to the confessional. Go ahead and take the whole family, cause no penance is necessary.
Grade: A-