At The Schoolhouse, the nuns are back raising money for their deceased comrades

The Little Sisters of Hoboken are at it again! This time, five singing and dancing nuns have emerged at The Schoolhouse in Parker for their fundraising variety show, raising money to bury four nuns who are currently “on ice” in their basement.

The madcap misadventure with book, music, and lyrics by Dan Goggin is all part of Nunsense, directed and choreographed by Nancy Evans Begley.

The nuns are in dire need of moolah to bury their remaining deceased sisters. They perform everything short of a miracle to quickly raise cash to inter the last four of the Little Sisters of Hoboken — victims of a tragic tainted vichyssoise food poisoning calamity in the south of France.

Sister Mary Regina/Reverend Mother, a former circus performer (Jennifer Burnett), is the ringleader.  A series of unfortunate business deals — including a line of nun-inspired greeting cards — has left the sisters broke. She concludes she has no option but to stage a variety show to raise money at Mt. Saint Helen’s School Auditorium, where the students have just finished a student production of Grease.

Joining the Reverend Mother are Sister Hubert (Arabella Beaubrun), Sister Amnesia (Jamie Molina), Sister Robert Anne (Ali Chung), and Sister Leo (Kayleigh Bernier), rounding out the heavenly performers who sing and dance their hearts out for their fallen sisters.

Nunsense dazzles with its upbeat energy, showcasing each nun through delightful musical numbers, solo or ensemble. Andrew Fischer, the music director, deserves kudos. He conducts with flair and steps into the spotlight as Father Fischer, accompanying the sisters with charm and skill.

‘Nunsense’ plays at the Parker Schoolhouse through Nov. 17 | Photo: Noah Begley, Paper and Light Photography

Dated material

At times, the script for Nunsense feels a bit antiquated. There is an extensive scene where the Reverend Mother gets loopy from an inhalant, making me wonder if such things are still around. The scene feels more like a relic from a bygone era than a contemporary one, although the audience enjoyed it. Other references throughout sent me back several decades, thus turning Nunsense into more of a period piece than a contemporary musical comedy.

As directed by Begley, Nunsense is a crowd-pleaser. She has rounded up some excellent local talent to become the Little Sisters of Hoboken, using each performer to their fullest and moving the action along at a breakneck clip.

A downside to the performance is that it is staged and choreographed for a much larger auditorium instead of a more intimate space such as The Schoolhouse. Every so often, the action on stage is played to the back of the balcony when the space is no more than eight or 10 rows deep – and there is no balcony.  Aspects of the performance need to be reimagined as a more intimate musical rather than one that over-projects.

While far from perfect, the strong cast and undoubtedly silly script and solid musical numbers still makes this one a crowd ple