Nunsense

“Nunsense” is a comedy musical with book music and lyrics written by Dan Goggin. The story follows the exploits of the little sisters of Hoboken originally founded as a missionary order to run a leper colony on an island in the south of France. They were then forced to move back to Hoboken where they lived a quiet life until one day their cook sister Julia (Child of God) served botulism infected vichyssoise soup and 52 of the nuns died. However some of the sisters were away playing bingo and were spared the fate of the others, but on discovering the tragedy the Reverend Mother had a vision and was told to start a greeting card company to raise funds so they could bury their sisters. They were successful and buried 48 of their fellow nuns and thinking there was still plenty of money Reverend Mother bought a plasma TV for the Covent, unfortunately they then realised there wasn’t enough money to bury the last four sisters so to raise the money needed they decided to hold a concert and in the meantime placed the sisters in the freezer.
I have never seen this show before and didn't know what to expect however this production was very funny with some very catchy musical numbers and was really enjoyable. There were some talented actors in the cast who produced some wonderful eccentric characters to entertain us. They all worked as a team and there were no weak links which along with very good comic timing was very important to the success of this show. The talented cast included Bet Davies as Reverend Mother Mary Regina, Pip Bradshaw as Sister Mary Hubert Mistress of the Novices, Sam Moores as Sister Robert Anne a streetwise Brooklyn nun, Julie Molyneux as Sister Mary Amnesia a nun who had lost her memory and was also an accomplished puppeteer. There was Michelle Dakin as Sister Mary Leo a novice who wanted to be a ballerina and Rosie Sephton as Sister Julia (Child of God) who was the convent cook. They were well supported by the smaller roles and also the other Nuns of the chorus who also produced some nice characterisations. Diction was generally good and dialogue could be followed except on a few occasions during the musical numbers. However accents both Irish and American were excellent and were maintained well throughout the show. It was obvious the whole cast thoroughly enjoyed themselves in this production and this was equally reflected by the response of the audience who also appeared to be enjoying themselves immensely.

 The orchestra conducted by Musical Director Wayne Oakes played and supported the cast very well although they were a little loud on one or two occasions. Choreography by Bryan Dargie- Lynch (who also played Father Virgil the one man in the show), was suitable for the production and included a nice tap dance from the nuns’. Well done to the stage crew for their set design and construction which provided a good platform for the cast to perform on, and also well done to sound and lighting. The costumes looked accurate and appeared to be of good quality, it was also amusing to see everyone involved with this show dressed as a nun or a priest including front of house and the orchestra.

Congratulations to Director Paul Robinson and Producer Paul Davies for a very funny enjoyable production. Well done to all involved including front of house thank you for inviting me I hope to see you again for your next production

© NODA CIO. All rights reserved.