{"id":246180,"date":"2013-06-07T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-06-07T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/a-rip-roaringly-funny-wacky-ride\/"},"modified":"2013-06-07T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2013-06-07T07:00:00","slug":"a-rip-roaringly-funny-wacky-ride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/a-rip-roaringly-funny-wacky-ride\/","title":{"rendered":"A rip-roaringly funny & wacky ride"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/strong><\/strong>Diversionary cast are master technicians, will bring audiences back for seconds<\/p>\n

Por Charlene Baldridge | Cr\u00edtico de Teatro SDUN<\/p>\n

Charles Busch is an actor, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, director and exceptionally beautiful drag artist. Among other Broadway and off-Broadway plays, he wrote \u201cVampire Lesbians of Sodom,\u201d \u201cPsycho Beach Party\u201d and \u201cThe Tale of the Allergist\u2019s Wife.\u201d\"web<\/a><\/p>\n

Currently playing at Diversionary Theatre through June 30 \u2013 and directed by Glenn Paris of ion theatre \u2013 is a rip-roaringly funny and adept production of Busch\u2019s latest, \u201cThe Divine Sister,\u201d which sends up every musical, theatrical and film nun you\u2019ve ever seen.<\/p>\n

Daren Scott plays the role of the titular sister, a mother superior of a Pittsburgh parochial school and nunnery. Mother Superior\u2019s biggest concern is the possible closure of their crumbling facilities due to lack of funding. The second is Agnes, a young postulant (played by Lauren King) who thinks she sees visions \u2013 the most recent being St. Thomas Aquinas in a piece of rhubarb pie \u2013 hears voices and performs miracles. Other nuns are Sister Acacius (Yolanda Franklin), an old friend of Mother Superior from prior to them taking vows of poverty and chastity, and the recently arrived Sister Walburga (Jacque Wilke), who stalks and skulks around looking like something smells very bad. She\u2019s up to no good.<\/p>\n

Other characters are the wealthy widow, Mrs. Levinson (Maggie Carney) and her houseguest, Jeremy (Dangerfield G. Moore). Both Carney and Moore play other characters, the funniest of which is Carney\u2019s portrayal of a bullied schoolboy named Tim.<\/p>\n

Playgoers who\u2019ve seen Busch\u2019s works know they will be swept up in a breathless, wide-ranging, intelligent yet wacky ride that might be termed extreme parody: with music and mental gymnastics. Paris\u2019s actors are master technicians whose performances will ripen to fine-tuned perfection over the run of the show, which merits a return visit \u2013 it\u2019s packed with that much mayhem and mirth. Scott\u2019s performance is one for the memory book.<\/p>\n

Underlying sincerity plays a huge part in this type of comedy, tugging at the onlooker\u2019s heartstrings even as the preposterous situation sinks in.<\/p>\n

Matt Scott\u2019s scenic design allows plenty of space for the physical comedy, which includes Mother Superior teaching Timmy how to swing a baseball bat and an entire school bazaar. Corey Johnston\u2019s costumes are a hoot, especially Mrs. Levinson\u2019s upper-class rags (with jeweled buttons) and the outfit Sister Walburga wears under her wimple. Peter Herman creates the outrageously funny wigs, Luke Olson the lighting, and Blair Robert Nelson the sound.<\/p>\n

While you\u2019re there, check out the ongoing elegance of the lobby and the powder-room upgrades. At last Diversionary looks like the quality establishment it is.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Divine Sister\u201d<\/strong>
\nWHERE: Diversionary Theatre, 4545 Park Blvd. (University Heights)<\/strong>
\nWHEN: Thurs. \u2013 Sat. at 8 p.m., Sun. at 2 p.m. and Monday, June 10 at 8 p.m. through June 30<\/strong>
\nINFO: 619-220-0097<\/strong>
\nWEB: diversionary.org<\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Diversionary cast are master technicians, will bring audiences back for seconds By Charlene Baldridge | SDUN Theater Critic Charles Busch is an actor, playwright, novelist, screenwriter, director and exceptionally beautiful drag artist. Among other Broadway and off-Broadway plays, he wrote \u201cVampire Lesbians of Sodom,\u201d \u201cPsycho Beach Party\u201d and \u201cThe Tale of the Allergist\u2019s Wife.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":246181,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"A rip-roaringly funny & wacky ride","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11547,11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-246180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-features","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246180\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}