Top-tier cast powers Drury Lane’s ‘Nunsense’
“Nunsense” — 3 stars
Drury Lane Theatre assembled a first-class ensemble of sisters for its revival of “Nunsense,” the delightfully goofy, second-tier tuner about nuns from the Little Sisters of Hoboken putting on a variety show fundraiser in the aftermath of a tragedy.
Writer/composer/lyricist Dan Goggin’s line of greeting cards featuring quipster sisters partly inspired the lightweight musical, which premiered 41 years ago off-Broadway and spawned six sequels plus an all-male version titled “Nunsense A-Men!”
It commences with a backstory: 52 order members perished after eating Sister Julia Child’s accidentally tainted vichyssoise. Unfortunately, the surviving nuns — who at the time of the last supper were engaged in a heated bingo battle with another convent — ran out of money before they could bury all their sisters. With four nuns on ice in the freezer, the sisters, led by Cory Goodrich’s Sister Mary Regina, have to act fast to inter their brethren, er, sistren.
Hence the talent show, which the sisters produce in the Mt. Saint Helen’s School Auditorium on the set of an 8th grade production of “Grease.”
Joining Goodrich’s mother superior onstage is her right-hand sister and aspiring successor, Sister Mary Hubert (Sherriese Hamilton); Brooklyn-born Sister Robert Anne (Rachel Carreras), an understudy desperate for her big break; novice and aspiring ballerina Sister Mary Leo (Aurora Boe); and the appropriately named Sister Mary Amnesia (a wonderfully dotty Kelly Felthous, whose performance has a Kristin Chenoweth-esque quality), who lost her memory after being struck on the head by a crucifix.
Goggin’s peppy, poppy, vaudeville-style score features a taptastic first-act finale “Tackle That Temptation.” The bouncy “Clean Out the Freezer” and the 11 o’clock gospel-tinged number “Holier Than Thou,” featuring a roof-raising solo by Hamilton, are among the musical highlights.
Speaking of highlights, director E. Faye Butler’s cast features exceptionally strong vocalists who are also able comedians. That’s important for a show animated by shtick, cornball humor and audience interaction.
At the matinee I attended, the audience ate up jokes such as “What did Jesus say at the Last Supper?/If you want to be in the picture, get on this side of the table” and “Why did Moses wander 40 years in the desert?/He was a man, he never asked for directions.” I rather enjoyed them myself.
Goggin tips his hat to classics “Gypsy,” “Wicked,” “Dreamgirls” and “Porgy and Bess,” as well as contemporary tuners “Six” and “Hamilton.” It also references Meryl Streep’s Amanda Priestly from “The Devil Wears Prada,” Sally Field’s flying nun and the floating door scene from the film “Titanic” among other pop culture tidbits.
Even Drury Lane’s late founder, theater impresario Tony DeSantis, gets a call-out in a jolly production dominated on stage and off by women. In addition to Butler, they include music director Julia Schade; conductor Charlotte Rivard-Hoster, who leads an all-female quintet; set designer Lauren M. Nichols; costume coordinator Rachel Sypniewski; sound designers Stephanie Farina and Sarah Ramos; and properties designer Cassy Schillo.
I've always felt “Nunsense” would work best as an intermissionless 90-minute show. Still, the show and Drury Lane’s production have a certain appeal. It is what it is: lighthearted, undemanding fluff performed by a first-rate cast.
One thing more: during the intermission, the sisters collect for Season of Concern, a charity that provides short-term financial assistance to suburban and Chicago theater artists in need. Nice touch, that: a musical about a fundraiser is an actual fundraiser.
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Location: Drury Lane Theatre, 100 Drury Lane, Oakbrook Terrace, (630) 530-0111, drurylanetheatre.com
Showtimes: 1:30 p.m. Wednesday; 1:30 and 7 p.m. Thursday; 7 p.m. Friday; 3 and 8 p.m. Saturday; and 2 and 6 p.m. Sunday, through Aug. 2
Tickets: $85-$150; dinner-theater packages available
Running time: About 2 hours, with intermission
Parking: Free in the adjacent lot
Rating: For most audiences