Nunsense is habit forming— and it’s a habit you should all take up again! Well, the habit of going to see live theatre, in person, as a real audience, in an actual auditorium! And Players On Air is serving up a bucket, barrel, and big old vat of laughs (be grateful they aren’t serving Sister Julia’s— Child of God— vichyssoise soup!) and it is exactly the kind of feel-good, laugh-out-loud humor that the world needs right now. Directed by Michael Livingston with Musical Direction by Matthew Lamb and Choreography by Roman Mykyta, this quaint and cute and silly little musical will have you chuckling and enjoying live theatre exactly as you were meant to. There’s a lot of laughs, a little bit of heart, and a good time for all.
The Little Sisters of Hoboken have turned up in— Hampstead? That’s right— don’t dig too deep into that one…some productions localize it, others don’t, this is the way the script is written so that’s what Players On Air is doing! And they’re trying to raise some funds…you really don’t want to know why— and believe me— the little sisters, or what’s left of them, will explain that plenty enough with their zany songs and outrageous stories about Sister Julia— Child of God— her cooking, and a whole bunch of other questionable decisions one can make as a nun. Their fundraising attempts include a variety show, for which you— the audience— are, well, the audience. (And there’s some hysterical interactive moments too!) The musical is ‘crashing’ into the Catholic School’s 8th grade production of Grease, so the little sisters have a backdrop of bar-stools and countertops, lockers, Sandy and Rizzo’s bedroom and things like that.
The set comes together delightfully— Set Artists Laura Harrison and Jessica Cheeks have a knack for details (even if their GRSDLTNG has too many letters in the license plate on the car) and really give the set a nice look, which only adds to the humor of five nuns trying to sort out their charity-calamity situation. Harrison doubles up as the ‘referenced’ Sister Mary Myopia…in charge of lights. And there are some gags about lighting cues (100% intentional) that get a couple laughs from the audience where Harrison’s illuminating work is involved. If there’s one minor complaint to be had about the actual lighting of the show, it’s the setting of the bar-stool-bar-top fixture and the fixed lights above them that fully illuminate the left barstool and the center barstool (what the audience sees as left and center) but not the right one. This only becomes a noticeable issue when Reverend Mother spends a great deal of her ‘Rush’ scene over in the non-lit section. Technical Director Corey Brown, aforementioned lighting issue notwithstanding, runs an otherwise tight ship and there are a lot of fun special effects both on stage and with the lighting that happen throughout the performance.
Fr. Matthew Lamb and The Hoboken Half-Tones (Sister Peggy Brengle on piano, Cardinal Rudy Klima on keyboard, Fr. Joel Brengle on Bass, and Fr. Mark Owens on Percussion) are a hilarious addition to the performance, providing not only quality live music from their off-stage (read: in-front-of-the-stage) pit but a little bit of interaction with the characters. Each of the pit musicians, including the show’s conductor/musical director is donned in the black garb and collar, or in Peggy Brengle in her sisterly habit, with the exception of Rudy Klima who has gone all out in the complete traditional red of the Catholic cardinal. When he’s not clapping the keys, you can find him running around pre-show and at intermission, blessing the crowd with holy water. The pit sounds great and a giant kudos is owed to Matthew Lamb, as the show’s musical director, for those heavenly blended harmonies that arise whenever the sisters take to singing in duet, trio, or full quintet.
Another little nod goes to Choreographer Roman Mykyta because if busy hands are happy hands than dancing feet are bliss and this seems to be a notion that Mykyta takes to heart. Although Nunsense isn’t a particularly dance-heavy show, there are definitely some routines to been seen throughout. And in the true vein of ‘the show must go on’, Mykyta found a way to incorporate two cast injuries into those routines (including one nun doing a full kick-line with jazz hands from a wheelchair!) Mykyta includes a lot of flashy arm movements, which is hilarious for the splashy numbers that these nuns sing and his work with Sister Leo for her various ballet routines is quite impressive. Director Michael Livingston keeps up the pace and encourages lively, enthusiastic energy all throughout the performance.
With a surprising soprano sound, Debbie Brengle takes to the role of Mother Superior like a box of giggling chocolates— you never know what you’re going to get, but it’ll all be funny. Brengle has a surprising vocal range that gets put to full use during her big solo number, “Turn Up The Spotlight” and her little step-on-step solo dance routine is quite the feat. She’s a real barrel full of fun and her laughter— during the ‘Rush’ scene— is purely infectious and will catch and spread through the audience like wildfire. Her semi-improvised references for that scene are hysterical— particularly ‘Flashnun’. Her duet with Sister Mary Hubert, “Just A Coupl’a Sisters” is a great display of Brengle’s harmonizing capabilities.
Fleet of foot, simple of smile, and pure of voice, Sister Leo (Alyson Kaiser) is an adorable novitiate with all the brimming vim and vigor of a leading ballerina. Vocally wafting through “Lilacs”, which is a song that most of the other nuns join in on, you hear Kaiser’s voice delicately drifting through the number like a sweet nostalgic memory on a bouncy spring breeze. Her flitting and fleeting and twirling about on her not-so-pointe ballerina slippers is quite agile and entertaining to watch, particularly when she’s pouring her happy heart into her big opening solo number, “Benedicite.” Though it’s her “The Dying Nun Ballet” dance routine that really gets the audience in stitches with laughter.
Full of guts, gumption, and real gritty heart, Sister Robert Anne (Rebecca Garrahy) is the nun who makes us cheer, and boy oh boy does she have the audience in the palm of her hand during “I Just Want to be a Star.” Garrahy has truly got what it takes to be a star in this show, starting off as a sparkling sparkler and bursting out into a spitfire-firecracker. With vocal chops for miles and a vibrant versatility, its no wonder Garrahy ended up in this role. Whether she’s pattering with precision-grade articulation through “Playing Second Fiddle” (which is more aptly referred to as ‘The Understudy’s Lament’ and anyone who has ever been an understudy can feel this hardcore when she launches into it) or really melting her God’s honest, earnest heart into “Growing Up Catholic”, there is something truly magical about Garrahy’s performance. And she’s got great comic timing and doesn’t cloister her sense of humor!
Daena N. Cox is truly bringing the spirit with her to her portrayal of Sister Mary Hubert, Reverend Mother’s number two! Living her best, brilliant life from her wheelchair (a pre-show-related injury cannot stop this sister from getting her glory on!) Cox is a marvel and simply amazing. With a voice to raise the roof straight up to the heavens, you’ll be blown away when she’s belting and riffing all through “Holier Than Thou.” That’s the show-stopper (and the show-closer) and Cox is leading it with all the power and the glory of musical theatre, now and forever. Delivering a charming and comedic counterpoint to the Mother Superior, Cox’ character is a scream and you’ll enjoy every minute that she’s on stage, whether she’s singing in any number of other songs, duetting with Mother Superior, or just putting her two-cents in when it comes to ‘how the heck did we get here in the first place?’
The show really comes together around what could easily be the dismissible character of Sister Mary Amnesia (Laura-Beth Wonsala) but believe me when I say you will absolutely not forget Laura-Beth Wonsala’s performance. Her bubbly effervescence is second to none and between her jokes— which I won’t spoil because she’s got to create a new one every night— and her delivery (especially on lines like “Oh, I was just going off with ‘what’s-her-veil’) are comic gold. Wonsala toes the fine line of playing up the character’s namesake and really making it believable, resulting in a winning combination, particularly when it comes to interacting with the audience. In a knockdown, drag-out fight for ‘star’, Wonsala goes head-to-head with Sister Mary Annette (a puppet…puppeted by Wonsala) during “So You Want to be a Nun?” and the result is comedic genius. You also get to hear Wonsala’s operatic borderline-coloratura singing voice scrubbed up against the gritty and gruff sounds of Sister Mary Annette in this number. She adds excellent blended harmonies to numbers like “The Drive-In” and is all around a hilarious happiness bubble.
So say your prayers that you get tickets to see Players On Air’s Nunsense. It’ll be a hail-Mary-full-of-fun night out for everyone!
Running Time: Approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes with one intermission
Nunsense plays through March 13, 2022 with Players On Air in the main auditorium of the new Panthers Performing Arts Center— 1400 Panther Drive in Hampstead, MD. Tickets are available at the door or in advance online.
