Nunsene! and its many sequels are all done to death by community theatres in my hometown. I have never seen the show and have no interest in it whatsoever.
"There’s nothing quite like the power and the passion of Broadway music. "
The Nunsense sequels are a lot like what happens when you photocopy a photocopy and then photocopy the copy that you just made and then copy THAT copy...meaning that they get worse and worse as they go on.
You can easily see what the other Nunsense are like by renting Nunsense 2 and 3 from Netflix.
At this point, I think that they only way you can get Dan Goggin to stop writing the sequels is to drive a stake through his heart, cut off his head and fill his mouth with rosemary.
"A coherent existance after so many years of muddle" - Desiree' Armfelt, A Little Night Music
"Life keeps happening everyday, Say Yes" - 70, Girls, 70
"Life is what you do while you're waiting to die" - Zorba
I really enjoy Nunsense. It's just silly fun. It really needs a talented cast to put it over though. But I think it's clever. "But as she was victory bound, her schnoz fell on the ground" Cooking with the BVM. "I'd sing songs like Drop Kick Me Jesus Through The Goal Posts of Life"
The sequels are dreary and not nearly as entertaining or clever and only seem to exist so that Vicki Lawrence could make a few bucks in her post-Carol Burnett career.
If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
The original is clever and fun when performed in a small space. When overblown for tours, like with the DVD performance, it comes off a bit cheap and loses some of its charm. The sequels basically just tell the same joke over and over. They mostly exist for amateur theatre groups and for audiences who haven't seen the original.
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
A local theatre just did Nunsensations here in LA and it was so bad, most of the audience left at intermission.
The show really needs talented people to make it work.
"TheatreDiva90016 - another good reason to frequent these boards less."<<>>
“I hesitate to give this line of discussion the validation it so desperately craves by perpetuating it, but the light from logic is getting further and further away with your every successive post.” <<>>
-whatever2
^^^And people that are right for the parts. Boston once had a production of Nunsense starring Pat Carrol. In the Hubert role, they had an older white woman who just could not make "Holier Than Thou" work. Hubert needs to have a strong gospel belt.
If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
It's easy to produce and audiences always love a singing nun.
"TheatreDiva90016 - another good reason to frequent these boards less."<<>>
“I hesitate to give this line of discussion the validation it so desperately craves by perpetuating it, but the light from logic is getting further and further away with your every successive post.” <<>>
-whatever2
Like all shows, there are good productions and bad productions, and productions for commercial theatre vs. the show that is only for the critics, or art. We need all types.
I think we have all left shows during intermissions from even the best of classic musicals, but they survive and Nunsense will continue to survive.
For those that were not even born in 1985, Broadway was in the midst of a major decline threatening to close and tear down many of its theatres and many theatres across the country were also suffering. I remember Nunsense came around at the right time became that show that was just fun with some people coming back over and over and over. Even the NY Times came back a second time and put it under a favorable spotlight. As a result, it survived another day. It was not an overnight success (it did get kicked out of 2 theatres on its way to the Fairbanks Theatre).
Across the country, theatres were also suffering (it was not a good time in theatre) and with no money a few theaters chose Nunsense as their last chance or close their doors. When these theatres survived and prospered with long runs, Nunsense was picked up with similar results. As a result, there are theatres still standing because of Nunsense.
Some theatres performed Nunsense as there opening show year after year after year as their own fundraiser to mount the rest of their season. They wanted something new and therefore Nunsense 2 was born and the rest continue to follow because of the demand from theatres is there and audiences keep coming like those that await Sex in the City 3.
So, Nunsense served and continues to serve its place and it also was a show that "yes" aging stars could keep working when the rest of the theatre world would kick them to curb. We can make fun of them, but when you are 50+, Nunsense will give you work and help pay the bills.
Not all theatre is to be great literary works. Some just need to be fun for those that want fun and maybe they will come back for something more challenging. The same exists in film and television. Not all audiences want the same thing or need the same thing. Just like Spider-man, it did not set out to be Les Miz, but 50% of its audiences have "never" been to theatre before - so is it a bad show because it is commerical, or because it succeeds and might just inspire a "new" theatre-goer to try a second show.
Most critics of Nusense cannot understand its success (with an element of jealousy), but in its simply core it works and continues and will continue.
I will always love to see that edgy show that the average patron would never choose, and may not rush to see Nunsense and have not seen a production in years, but I won't bash Nunsense and other shows like it that help theatres and fellow actors/actresses survive for another day.
Nunsense is just okay. The rest are all just god awful. I worked crew for a HORRID, HORRID, HORRID production of Nunsensations! which is already one of the worst shows I've ever seen. Just so unfunny. The production was said to be the worst in the theatre's 80 year history.
I also saw JPAS (in New Orleans) do Scream Queens last halloween. It was Nunsense, but about B horror movie starlets. Perfect way to describe it: Nunsense with blood. Sounds like fun, but it was just really ridiculous.
There are shows like these that try and fail to be corny AND funny. They're just corny.
I unapologetically love Nunsense. Love the McClanahan/White DVD, love it in community theater. I've seen it in huge auditoriums and tiny theaters; both can work, but require very different staging.
I don't think you have to be Catholic to appreciate Nunsense, but it sure helps.
"It does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are 20 gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket, nor breaks my leg."
-- Thomas Jefferson
