Jeanne Tinker as Sister Mary Amnesia; photo: Robert Levinstein

First comes Amnesia. She is fragile, gentle, sweetly sad and hysterically funny. She seems to just float into the room where the show is going on, not really belonging, and yet so perfectly right in the space. She is played, in this production, by Jeanne Tinker who is physically full-bodied though without a fully functional mind. Tinker is sweetly amusing yet always engaging, quietly stealing our attention away from whatever else is happening. She is a presence, a heavenly engagement from another world. When her memory is restored - possibly - in the second act and her dream of being a country-music star takes center stage, Tinker truly lights up the production with her full-throated star turn.

Bambi Jones, Sister Mary Hubert, also has some of the best musical moments in this production. Hubert, uncomfortable with the name, is second-in-command at the convent. She cleans up after the "Sister" Superior (who blunders through being top-dog here), and belts out both the first act finale "Tackle That Temptation With a Time-Step"  and the second act finale, "Holier Than Thou," as well. Jones is very funny with her wiseguy facial looks and her semi-serious tone of voice when she comments on some mishap or other. She adds much to the overall style of the play. 

Sister Mary Leo comes next. Played by the very talented Krista Kurtzberg, Leo is the eager beaver, dying to be liked, liking to be loved and always over-eager. She has her Cinderella moments and her classical dance sequence (assisted by Sister Robert Anne) and really does just about everything you can think of in a musical about nuns, including singing in Latin. There are funnier Soubrette roles in other shows, but this one has the addition of genuine innocence to guide it and Kurtzberg plays that sensibility beautifully.

The fourth nun, Sister Robert Anne, has been given the role of general understudy and she resents it. A typical Brooklyn girl, street tough and ready to rumble, it is clear that her time with the Little Sisters of Hoboken (NJ) is not a perfect fit. Robert Anne is played by Kimberly Chesser to perfection. She does impressions that are hilarious. She sings with an almost Ethel Merman tone, but she can be sweet and pious and always much prettier than any nun deserves to be.  When this understudy has to go on due to a situation too curious to go into here, she takes the stage like the pro she is and wins not just much well-deserved applause, but our hearts as well. This is a grand performance, one that will be hard to beat and - remember - I've seen a lot of performances of this show. Chesser is teriffic!