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| NUNSENSE |
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By John Garcia / Excerpted from The Column/www.talkinbroadway.com 3/27/2006 ©2006 NUNSENSE is one of those shows that I have seen many, many times. Just last season I saw the national tour starring Kay Ballard, Georgia Engel, and Darlene Love come through Dallas. I've seen it in Florida several times and lost count of the many mountings done here in the metroplex that I have seen. Thus it was very difficult not to already know ahead of time the many jokes, Catholic references, and comedic bits in the material. However, Friday's audience must have been filled with NUNSENSE virgins 'cause they were laughing like crazy. There were some new adlibs and comedic bits that did add some freshness to the production. The entire cast delivered highly entertaining, amusing, joyful, and funny performances as a group of nuns having to put on a benefit show. Libby Bogart gave Mother Superior an Irish brogue that generated some solid laughs during the "popper" scene. Jolia Jones overlaid "Sister Mary Hubert" with just the right doses of roughness, bitterness, and tired of being Number 2 in charge within the convent. As "Sister Robert Anne," Sherry Etzel was right on target as the street wise nun who was the thorn in Sister Regina's side. Quenby Seter was sweet and adorable as the novice of the nuns, "Sister Mary Leo." As for Andi Allen as "Sister Mary Amnesia," well, this talented thespian stole the show! This girl zeroed in on every nuance, tic, facial expression, and movement involving her characterization to garner loud, ear-splitting laughter. What made her performance even more enjoyable were the new adlibs and bits she added to the character that I have not seen before. She slayed the audience during the "Question and Answer" scene. Her duet with a certain puppet was a show stopping number in itself. It was Allen's renditions of "I Could've Gone to Nashville" and "So You Want to be A Nun" that were the best numbers of the evening thanks to her razor sharp comedic timing, pace, energy, & delivery. But she also earns high marks for her vocals. That's a great set of pipes this gal has! She can go from high, operatic soprano straight down to Country music twang - and succeed with flying colors in both musical genres. Go spend an evening with the sisters of Mt. Saint Helen's, cause these entertaining gals have put on a charming, delightful production for you. - John Garcia Here is an article from John about what happened the week we were originally supposed to open this show: ICT MainStage suffered an incredible loss on Tuesday evening when during a rehearsal for NUNSENSE, Rudy Seppy fell from the catwalk onto the concrete floor of the Dupree Theater. Rudy had been an active member with ICT for 20 years and was to direct their next production. Rudy was always full of joy and enthusiasm for theater and ICT. He was a major supporter and leader for ICT. This is a loss not only to ICT but also to our own DFW Theater family. My own personal note about Rudy: I had the pleasure of working with Rudy on many ICT shows. He was always dedicated and hard-working and great to work with. We will all miss him terribly. After much discussion following Rudy's death, we agreed he would have wanted our show to go on, so we opened a week after the originally scheduled opening. In an interesting side note that is sure to add to theater lore, the spotlight that Rudy was to have operated during our run started behaving erratically when we remounted the show for its belated opening...Hmmm, Rudy always had a great sense of humor and I guess he just couldn't resist reminding us he was still there with us. The Dupree Theater now has a guardian angel watching over it. |