Theater Review: "The Divine Sister" is vintage Busch satire, a critical delight

Details

Parent Category: Film and the Arts

Category: Reviews

Published on Sunday, 24 April 2011 05:00

Written by Lucy Komisar

The Divine Sister
Written by Charles Busch
Directed by Carl Andress
Starring Charles Busch, Marcy McGuigan, Julie Halston, Amy Rutberg, Jennifer Van Dyck, Jonathan Walker

Charles Busch’s very funny campy satire of Catholic nuns hits all the bases, extending to a stereotypical Jewish philanthropist, a Da Vinci Code-style mystery with a German faux-nun and a brown-robed monk, and even a detour back to 1930s movies about diligent good-guy reporters.

You know when you see most Busch oeuvres that they will be over the top. (The Allergist‛s Wife was an exception.) So suspend disbelief here, don’t look for high art, and you will enjoy every minute -- thanks in equal measure to director Carl Andress, who knows how to play with fantasy.

A school run by Mother Superior (Charles Busch) is in financial troubles. Who else to turn to but Margaret Levinson (Jennifer Van Dyck), a philanthropic Philadelphia Jew? But she is an atheist! She thinks God is a fairy tale.

Van Dyck is rigidly "upper," snatched from the new Wall Street Journal society pages which would appreciate her love of designer clothes. On safari in Crete, she wore a Bill Blass jacket. When there are remarks about her being born in a stetl, she retorts that her father was presented at the British court.

In the background are goings-on involving Sister Walburga (Alison Fraser) and Brother Venerius (Jonathan Walker), another mysterious German. (Aren’t they always?)

And there is also the young postulate Agnes (Amy Rutberg), who lays on hands and makes medical miracles, and also belts out a pretty good soprano. She has visions inspired by the urine on a pair of underpants she has obtained, and her hands bleed from stigmata, although that turns out to be the juice of crushed cherries.

Into this weird collection comes Jeremy Walker (who steps out of the era), a former reporter now working for a film company that wants to sign young miracle-making Agnes.

But the plot thickens. It seems that Sister Acacius (Jule Halston), a Brooklyn-accented nun, and Jeremy were once reporters together. Mother Superior will deal with that.

I loved this wonderful over-the-top camp, with lines like, "We are living in a time of great social change. We have to stop it!" Of course, the Messiah was a woman, and the ensemble cast presides elegantly over such tongue-in-cheek revelations.

This play joins the canon of Charles Busch’s hysterically funny satires. Definitely worth a trip to Soho.

The Divine Sister
Soho Playhouse
15 Vandam Street
New York City
212-352-3101
Opened Sept 22, 2010; closes May 1, 2011

For more by Lucy Komisar, visit thekomisarscoop.com.

• < Prev
• Next >