The current show at Portsmouth Community Theater is Dan Goggin's
"Nunsense". The show is about five zany nuns, the little Sisters of Hoboken
who are putting on a fundraiser to raise money to bury 52 sisters
accidentally poisoned by the convent cook, Sister Julia Child of God. The
sisters decide that the best way to raise the money is to put on a variety
show, so they take over the school auditorium which is currently set up for
the eighth grade production of "Grease". The nuns sing and dance their way
into the hearts of the audience with their clever and witty lines
and dialogue. Director Kate Grana infuses the show with the energy needed
while musical director Nicole Sousa plays the keyboards while doing banter
with cast members while Missy Cupp plays clarinet an saxaphone for the show.
Kate chooses five talented women to fill these roles to provide a wonderful
evening of entertainment for a very appreciative audience.
Kate blocks the nuns and does the musical staging beautifully. She has
them walk into the audience in several scenes, making the audience a part of
the show. Some of the dances include a tap-dance and a comic ballet scene.
The nuns old fashioned habits are by Em Stern, Molly Kaufmann and Priscilla
Wimpress while the stage manager also known as Sister Merry Manager, who
keeps things running smoothly all night long is Denise Betz . Playing Sister
Mary Regina, the Mother Superior is veteran actress, Cindy Killavey who
commands the stage as the authority figure. Regina was a former circus
performer and she does a very funny tight rope walking imitation in "Turn Up
the Spotlight". Cindy obtains many laughs during her Rush scene where she
sniffs this bottle and gets high from it. She also does a great job in the
cooking with the BVM scene where she has many funny one-liners. One of her
funny one liners includes calling the 8th Grade show Vaseline instead of
"Grease". Act 1 ends with a kick-line to "Turn Up the Spotlight". Cindy
also mentions that the lilacs used in the show were sent to her from her
friends at Newport Playhouse. The second in command, Sister Hubert, the
Mistress of the Novices, is played by Trish Culver. She has some funny
scenes with Regina where she constantly insults her and they have a comic
duet called "Just a Coupl'a Sisters". But it is the 11th hour number of
the show called "Holier Than Thou" that brings the house down. It is a
gospel type of song and mentions many saints who they sing about in it.
Two of the zaniest nuns in this show are Robert Ann and Amnesia. The
streetwise nun from Brooklyn , Sister Robert Ann is played by Tanya Keirnon.
She is a hoot with her habit humor. Tanya imitates Attilla the nun, Heidi,
Pippi Longstocking, Princess Leia and Katherine Hepburn. She also sells her
three songs wonderfully, "Playing Second Fiddle", where she sings about
always being the understudy nun, "Growing Up Catholic" where she tells about
her tough childhood in Brooklyn and "I Just Wanna Be a Star" where she
finally gets to strut her stuff for the audience. Cheryl Cox keeps the crowd
in stitches as Sister Amnesia, the nun who lost her memory when a crucifix
fell on her head. She is hilarious in "So You Want to Be a Nun" number which
she does with her puppet, Sister Mary Annette, who is played by Pamela
Kopplin(she is made up to look like a puppet with heavy rouge on her cheeks.
Luckily she remembers who she is during her "I Could Have Gone to
Nashville" song and helps save the nun's fundraiser from being
ruined. Cheryl also does a great job with the quiz about their order where I
won a St Christopher's prayer for motorists. Rounding out this cast is Myles
Winter as Sister Mary Leo, the novice who wants to be a ballerina nun. She
does an comic ballet to "Benedicite" and gets to show off a comic dance in
the Dying Nun ballet. (Cheryl, Myles and Pamela appear onstage in their
debut performances in this show.) An added treat is free recipe books by
the nuns in the show for audience members. So for a wonderful rendition of
this well known show, be sure to catch "Nunsense" in Portsmouth before time
runs out.
NUNSENSE ( April 15-19, 2009)
Portsmouth Community Theater
Aquidneck Island Christian Academy 321 East Main Road,
Portsmouth, RI
