Bette MacDonald makes Neptune debut in Nunsense

Bette MacDonald is nervous.

She can sell out the 1000-seat Cohn auditorium on her own, but Neptune's production of Nunsense is her first piece of musical theatre.

"Were singing and dancing, my dear," she says over lunch at Soho Kitchen. "Doing the two of those together is quite a challenge for someone not used to it."

MacDonald plays Mother Superior in Dan Gogin's popular musical comedy, Nunsense, a show that ran for nearly a decade to become one of the longest running shows off-Broadway.

Nunsense is the story of a group of nuns, the Little Sisters of 1-loboken, who put on a revue to raise money to bury the last four of 52 nuns who died of botulism. It was Vichyssoise gone bad prepared by the Convent Chef, sister Julia (Child of God) that caused it. Five nuns were spared this fate because they were playing bingo in another parish.

"It's pretty dark, I like it," says MacDonald.

She is well-known in Nova Scotia as a comic actor in the Cape Breton Summertime Revue, in solo sketch comedy shows and in the TV pilot Ashby Corner with her brother, writer/actor Ed Macdonald. People know her for her characters, like the busybody Mary Morrison and faded alcoholic lounge singer Beulah Claxton. Nunsense is MacDonald's first production with Neptune Theatre.

"I can't believe I'm doing a musical, It's Beulah's dream come true. I think there is a lot of Beulah in Mother Superior. The songs are really good. Now if I can just get through the choreography without hurting myself, I'll be happy."

Her favorite musical is Sweeny Todd, "I love it. It's just so dark, I love the music and it's funny. Even though the guy's killing people and putting them in pies, it's still fun.''

Neptune Theatre's artistic director Linda Moore called MacDonald to ask her to be Mother Superior, and the theatre's ads for the play feature her prominently. ‘We'd been in touch before. I'd audition and I wouldn't be right.' says MacDonald. ‘After some hack and forth over the last few years, this worked out."

After years of working with her brother or with a group of familiar actors and musicians, she was nervous about joining a cast of unknown professional actors. ‘1 didn't know any of them so I was really hoping for women with a good sense of humor and these dames are great. We're having a blast.

"Working with the women in the show is great because you learn a lot from watching them. It's great and they're all very helpful and generous people. That helps a lot."

This summer MacDonald co-directs the Cape Breton Summertime Revue with her husband, Maynard Morrison, ‘We're just looking around now for actors,"

She says she will definitely not be going on stage.

"I just want to do other things now, I'm not saying I'll never be in it, just not for now."

In the fall she plans to mount a solo show of comic sketches, like the ones that have sold out the Cohn in the past. She and Ed Macdonald, who is busy fall and winter writing for This Hours Has 22 Minutes, recently got the go-ahead from CBC-TV to develop six more scripts for their duo comedy show, Ashby Corner, produced by CBC-TV, Brookes Diamond Productions and Citadel Productions.

"It'll be the two of us and we'll do what we did before. Only we want the option of adding people or having guests, and opening it up more."

Nunsense is a much more highly structured piece to work on than sketch comedy.

"When playing Beulah, you can make all the mistakes you want to because she's out of her mind," says MacDonald. "We're just starting to get rolling with Beulah and finding out what we can do with the character. Another great thing with a character like Beulah is the costuming. That dress that Rita (MacNeil) gave me, that pink one.

"Rita's been great. That's another woman who's been incredibly supportive. She's right in your corner all the time. Look what she did in her TV show, I can't believe it's not on,"

The pasta is done and it's time to go back to rehearsal. Neptune is paying for her lunch, but Bette MacDonald makes a point of leaving a $5 tip, and shares her chocolate bread pudding.

Nunsense is directed and choreographed by fellow Cape Bretoner Cliff Le Jeune, with Mary Lou Martin as assistant director/choreographer and Lisa St. Clair as musical director.

Performing with MacDonald are: Christina Gordon as Sister Amnesia, Kelly-Ruth Mercier as Sister Mary Hubert, Adrienne Wilson as Sister Leo, and Patricia Zentluhi as Sister Robert Anne. The production features Lisa St. Clair on keyboards, John Alphonse on percussion, Bruce Jacobson bass, and Steve MacDonald on guitar.

Nunsense, sponsored by Nortel, opens tonight, running to April 20. Show times are Tuesday to Friday, 8 p.m., Saturday, 4:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m., and Sunday, 2 p.m. Tickets are at the Neptune Theatre box office in Barrington Place Shops; a satellite box office is in front of the Cohn one hour before show time.

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