The current show at the Orpheum Theatre is Dan Goggin's
"Nunsense". The show is about five zany nuns, the Little Sisters of
Hoboken who are putting on a fundraiser to bury 52 nuns accidentally
poisoned by their cook, Sister Julia Child of God. The sisters
decide that the best way to raise the money is to put on a variety
show., so they take over the school auditorium which is currently
set up for the eighth grade musical "Grease" The nuns sing and dance
their way into the hearts of the audience with their clever and
witty lines and dialogue. Director Dori Bryan infuses the show with
the energy needed while musical director Fred Frabotta plays the
keyboards and conducts his 3 person combo (saw Fred musically direct
Rocky Horror Show at Foothills Theatre) and Dori also creates some
spectacular dance numbers. Dori chooses five talented women to fill
these roles to provide a topnotch evening of entertainment for a
very appreciative audience that rewards their efforts with a
standing ovation.
Dori blocks the nuns and does the musical staging beautifully.
She has them walk into the audience in several scenes, making the
audience part of the show. She uses the Law and Order theme in the
show leading to many laughs. Some of Dori's excellent dance numbers
include a time step, tap dance, ballet and kick-line. Group numbers
include "Nunsense is Habit Forming", "A Difficult Transition",
"Tackle That Temptation with a Time Step", "We've Got to Clean out
the Freezer" and "Gloria in Excelsis Deo". Fred has the cast doing
excellent harmonies throughout the show. The gorgeous Grease set is
by Michael Texeira while the nuns old fashioned habits are by Daniel
Kozar as well as the other accoutrements. Technical director
Michael Texeira keeps things running smoothly all night long
and designs a gorgeous stain window lighting effect when the nuns
sing in Latin while Erin Mulhern handles the sound and Gail Gilman
all the special props for the show including The Greased Lightning
car and a roll on bed. Playing Sister Mary Regina, the Mother
Superior is Mary Beth Murphy who commands the stage as the authority
figure and has a perfect Irish brogue. Regina was a former circus
performer and she does a very funny tight rope walking imitation in
"Turn Up the Spotlight" while dancing the shimmie with a red feather
boa.. Mary Beth obtains many laughs during her Rush scene where she
sniffs this bottle and gets high from it. She runs around the stage
and also falls on one of the bar stools looking pregnant as well as
referring to several movies including The Titanic and Benjamin
Button. Mary Beth ends Act 1 with a Carmen Miranda headpiece which
is hilarious. She also does a great job in the Baking with the BVM
segment where she has many funny one liners and makes every one of
them hit pay-dirt. The second in command, Sister Hubert, the
Mistress of the Novices is played by Letitia Riel . She has some
funny scenes with Regina where she constantly insults her, calling
her Lake Superior. She has a funny duet with Sister Leo called "The
Biggest Ain't the Best and she and Mary Beth have a duet together
called "Just a Couple of Sisters" with Swanee at the end of it while
they harmonize beautifully together. But it is the 11th hour number
that stops the show, bringing the house down. The song is "Holier
Than Thou" and is a gospel type of song, mentioning many saints in
it while they all dance up a storm. Brava on a great job Mary Beth
and Letitia.
Two of the zaniest nuns in this show are Kathleen Comber as
Sister Robert Anne and Katherine Joy as Sister Amnesia. Kathleen has
an awesome singing voice and is a hoot with her habit humor where
she imitates the Wicked Witch of the West, Attila the Nun, Heidi,
Pippi Longstocking and Katherine Hepburn. She also sells her three
songs, "Playing Second Fiddle" where she complains about always
being the understudy nun, "Growing Up Catholic" where she tells
about her tough childhood in Brooklyn and "I Just Wanna Be a Star"
where she finally gets to strut her stuff for the audience.
Katherine's facial expressions are hilarious as she stares at the
audience with a vacant expression and bug eyes. She keeps the crowd
in stitches as the forgetful nun who has lost her memory and is
hysterical in "So You Want to be a Nun'' number which she does with
her puppet Sister Mary Annette, while alternating her
gorgeous soprano voice with a lower voice for the puppet and doing
both voices extremely well. Luckily she remembers who she is during
her "I Could've Gone to Nashville" number and helps save the nun's
fundraiser from being ruined. Katherine also does a great job with
the quiz about their order in which I won a St. Christopher prayer
for motorists. Rounding out this cast is Kassandra Grant who plays
the novice nun, Sister Leo who wants to be a ballerina nun. She does
an excellent ballet to "Benedicite" and gets to show off a comic
dance in the dying nun ballet and does ballet on point. Kassandra
shows off her strong soprano voice and acting skills in this role,
too. An excellent Andrews sisters song is done by Kathleen,
Katherine and Kassandra in " The Drive In". They use a car from
"Grease" and after the song the Nunsmoke film with Regina in her
underwear is shown leading to much laughter. So for a comical visit
with wacky nun's in their old habits, be sure to catch a fun filled
"Nunsense" in Foxboro with fabulous dancing, acting and singing. Bay
Colony always does topnotch work and this show is no exception to
that rule.
NUNSENSE ( 1- 10 May, 2009)
Bay Colony Productions, Orpheum Theatre,
1 School Street, Foxboro, MA
