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| FALL RIVER -- "Nunsense A-Men," a hilarious play with an unconventional all-male cast of five nuns, be-devils the stage of The Firebarn theater, corner of Prospect Street and Highland Avenue, starting tonight. |
| Presented by the Little Theatre of Fall River, and written by
Dan Goggin, the show is guaranteed to tickle the funny bone of
play-goers. When the show begins, the sisters of Hoboken have a terrible, unholy dilemma. Sister Julia (child of God) has served her 52 sisters a recipe of toxic vichyssoise soup -- poisoning and killing them with botulism. After laying to rest 48 of the holy victims using money from a previous fund-raiser, the bodies of the last four nuns are being stored in the convent freezer -- due to a lack of funds. Meanwhile, the five live nuns -- who escaped toxic poisoning by being out at Bingo -- are left with a dilemma. What to do with the four frozen sisters in the freezer? The nuns are broke because Mother Superior used some of their money to purchase a new television and VCR (for the school, of course). Another problem arises -- the New Jersey Board of Health has ordered the saintly sisters to clean out their freezers by the next day or face a fine. They know they can’t just leave their frozen sisters there -- and the prospect of thawing them the next morning is not on their holy to-do-list -- so they cook up a fund-raising scheme in which they will be singing and dancing their way to redemption. Dressed in full habits, tights and veils (and women’s tap shoes), the five sisters tell the school children they won’t mess up their "Grease" stage and prepare to put on a show -- each trying to find "her" own hidden talent. Mother Superior, played by Jeff Belanger, is the head-honcho of the convent. The sisters try hard to please her and gain her respect and in the Mother’s own superior way she cares about them and -- like any mother teaches them good from bad. Sister Hubert, played by Kenny Ettress, is second in command and the Reverend Mother’s right hand. Sister Hubert always stands by the seemingly, staunch Mother Superior -- even though she wants nothing more than to have her position. She also doesn’t approve of the Reverend Mother’s decision to purchase a television and VCR with funds that should have been used for burying nuns. Each nun, with a quirk of her own, tap dances, sings and does in-fact make a mess of whatever she performs -- to the Reverend Mother’s great disapproval. In one scene, Sister Amnesia, who cannot remember who she is because a crucifix fell on her head, played by David Faria, along with Sister Hubert and Mother Superior -- all wearing big, white chef’s hats -- concoct a money-making scheme to sell cookbooks until they find a terrible problem with the sinful recipes within. Mother Superior, in another scene finds a bottle of Rush -- an inhalant -- and decides to try it for herself. With the Mother flying higher than Heaven’s angels, the humorous scene that follows is a crowd-pleaser. Sister Robert Ann, played by Bill Whitehead, Jr., is the nun who (gratefully) drives the Reverend Mother around and has a bit of an un-Godly past. She does an act on what she can do with her veil and wants to be a star. Sister Mary Leo -- the youngest nun, played by Richard Bento, aspires to be the first nun ballerina and puts on an unforgettable dancing show. She and Sister Robert Ann put on a little skit about their dead sisters that the Reverend Mother is none too pleased with it. Director, choreographer and musical director Robert Matthew Perry keeps the nuns singing and in line with his piano playing mastery. Performances of "Nunsense, A-Men!" are tonight, (tomorrow’s performance is already sold out), Nov. 30, Dec. 1 and 2 at 8 p.m.; and Sunday and Dec. 3 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $12 for adults, $10 for seniors and $5 for children ages 12 and under. Call 675-1852 for reservations. This production will benefit the Little Theatre of Fall River Scholarship Fund. |
| ©The Herald News 2002 |
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