‘Nunsense…A-Men!’

Bucks County Playhouse is back in the habit with this all-male take on nun-filled comedy.

By: Stuart Duncan
   It used to be that Nunsense was merely a Philadelphia cottage industry — a small musical in a tiny theater, wildly successful, but a decidedly local phenomenon.
   And then the deluge came: sequel after sequel — Nunsense II: The Second Coming; Nunsense Jamboree: Sister Amnesia’s Country Western Nunsense Jamboree; Nuncrackers: The Nunsense Christmas Musical — as well as television versions of each of the above and many regional and international performances. The show had a 10-year run off-Broadway and broke all long-running records in Philly. Too much of a perfectly good thing.

In this Bucks County Playhouse production, Nunsense A-Men!, five male actors get the chance to wear habits.

   The latest example is Nunsense…A-Men!, currently at New Hope’s Bucks County Playhouse. It’s back for a second time, but in reality it’s nothing more than the original Nunsense with five guys playing the nuns. The current production is funny, energetic, and with habits and whimples and all, who can tell the genders anyway?
   Let’s go back to square one and, in the words of the stage manager in Our Town, "see how this all began; this decision to spend a lifetime together." Actually, it started with greeting cards. Dan Goggin and his partner, Marilyn Faema, designed a line of comic cards featuring nuns. Mr. Goggin thought of transferring the cardboard characters to the stage, and with a few tunes, a bundle of "habit" jokes and a wild imagination, the show was born.
   He needed a gimmick and that became a fund-raiser, needed to bury four of the order who were stashed in the convent freezer because the order’s cook, Sister Julia, Childe of God, had served soup laced with botulism. Forty-eight were already buried, but the final quartet was skipped when the Reverend Mother bought a VCR instead. At the moment, they apparently are a health hazard, and they are taking up too much room.
   And so we, the audience, are at a fund-raiser. Actually, the five nuns are working on a stage setting left over from the high school production of Grease. The Reverend Mother calls it "Vaseline," but that’s pretty close.
   The name of the order is The Little Sisters of Hoboken (writer Goggin, coming from Philly, thinks Hoboken is a funny name). The five nuns, led by Sister Mary Regina, are determined to display their modest talents in an attempt to raise the needed funds.
   Playhouse regulars will have a ball as their favorites romp and play. There is Louis Palena as the mindless Sister Mary Amnesia (he also directed and choreographed); Kevin Starzynski as Sister Mary Hubert, the second-in-command and in charge of the novitiates; Richard Amelius as Sister Robert Anne, pegged to be the understudy, but with a few devices under her whimple; and Kristian Korsgaard as Sister Mary Leo, determined to find a place for ballet in the program.
   The scene-stealer, however, turns out to be the erstwhile Playhouse stage manager, Erik Reid, pressed into service with just four days of rehearsal remaining when the original cast member got a higher-paying job. As the Mother Superior, Mr. Reid does it all — sings, dances (sort of) and drops jokes like a pro, all with a huge grin of confidence that assures you if it isn’t quite right, you probably won’t care.
   If you are among the few who haven’t seen Nunsense, go and have a wonderful night chuckling and roaring helplessly. If you know the show, you can wait a few weeks for Nuncrackers; that’s the Christmas version and the Playhouse stages that one later in the season.
   I told you there was no escape.
Nunsense…A-Men! plays at Bucks County Playhouse, 70 S. Main St., New Hope, Pa., through Oct 7. Performances: Thurs.-Sat. 8 p.m., Sat. 4 p.m.; Sun. 6 p.m.; Thurs., Sun. 2 p.m. Tickets cost $19-$23. For information, call (215) 862-2046. On the Web: www.buckscountyplayhouse.com