Q: What’s black and white, full of fun and seen all over the world? A: Nunsense, the hit off-Broadway musical featuring five hilarious nuns, set to entertain Comox Valley audiences during the Christmas holidays.
Tickets are on sale now and are already selling fast for the lively musical revue, which will light up the Sid Williams Theatre daily, from the Boxing Day matinee to a special closing New Year’s Eve performance, when the nuns will help ring in 2012.
“Courtenay Little Theatre is proud to continue its annual tradition of offering fun and entertaining Christmas holiday fare, although this is not a Christmas pantomime,” explains director Tony Arnold. “Nunsense is an award-winning off-Broadway musical featuring five of the funniest, wackiest and most endearing nuns you’re likely to meet.
“The humour is full of silly puns and double entendres that sometimes border on bad taste but it is all good, inoffensive fun. This is a show that will appeal to a broad range of ages, although at different levels. Audiences should be forewarned that, as they say in the show, Nunsense is habit-forming! ”
On entering the theatre, the audience is immediately drawn into the world of the irrepressible Little Sisters of Hoboken, who are putting on a fundraiser in the auditorium of Mount St. Helen’s Catholic School.
The stage is set for a school production of Grease, which is the first indication that this is going to be a wacky ride. There is plenty of audience interaction as the nuns introduce themselves and explain the implausible reason why they are raising funds before launching into their madcap revue, described by the New York Times as “a hail of fun and frolic.”
We meet Mother Superior, Sister Mary Regina (played by Jeannine Taylor), a former circus performer who can’t resist the spotlight. She is joined by Sister Mary Hubert, the Mistress of the Novices (Crystal-lee Young), second in command but secretly coveting the top job.
Sister Robert Anne (Kim Tsang) is streetwise and tough, a constant source of aggravation to Mother Superior. Sweet and naive Sister Mary Amnesia (Meghan Hanley) has lost her memory after a crucifix fell on her head, while Sister Mary Leo (Kate Morrison) is a novice who has entered the convent with the goal of becoming the first nun ballerina.
Dan Goggin, the originator of Nunsense, grew up attending Catholic schools. In a New York Times interview, he shares that, “Many of the nuns who taught me were funny people — I only recall one who was in any way severe. Every nun in the show is based on someone I knew growing up.”
For that reason, Goggin decided to share what he terms “the humor of the nun” with a larger audience. A phenomenal success with over 5,000 performances worldwide, Nunsense has been translated into 21 languages and has spawned eight spinoff shows.
Tickets are $20 regular, $15 student, $22 New Year’s Eve, are available at the Sid Williams box office in Courtenay at 250-338-2430 or www.sidwilliamstheatre.com.
Courtenay Little Theatre presents Nunsense from Dec. 26 to 31.
— Courtenay Little Theatre
