Singing sisters bring laughs, plenty of ‘Nunsense’

“Nunsense”

March 11-June 6

Theater Square Cabaret

$14… “Nunsense”

March 11-June 6

Theater Square Cabaret

$14 through Pitt Arts

www.culturaldistrict.org

The charm of a show starring five singing and dancing nuns is not readily discernable. What is clear, though, is that divine intervention was not involved. The show’s success over its long history is all thanks to its original writer, director and creator Dan Goggin.

As “Nunsense” makes its debut at the Pittsburgh CLO Cabaret this month, all theatergoers will be able to discover what the fuss is about.

Pittsburgh might not be geographically far from the show’s birthplace in Manhattan, but 27 years of notoriety, countless productions around the country and six sequels set apart this 2010 production from its origins.

Most musicals nowadays are inspired by movies, books and plays, but “Nunsense” holds the distinction of being born from a line of greeting cards. In the early 1980s, Goggin wrote a series of cards featuring actress Marilyn Farina in the full nun’s habit. For the sake of advertising the line, Goggin wrote small scenes for Farina to perform at press events. Eventually, these sketches inspired him to create a whole musical for the Mother Superior character.

The original run of the musical “Nunsense Story” was scheduled for four days, but popular demand kept it playing in Manhattan for 38 weeks. What eventually became just “Nunsense” was fleshed out to include more eccentric personalities and a revamped score. The show premiered at the Cherry Lane Theater in 1986 and went on to win the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Off Broadway Musical and three other honors.

“Nunsense” tells the story of the Little Sisters of Hoboken rallying funds to bury four of their sisters who have yet to be put to rest after a tainted batch of vichyssoise fatally poisoned 52 members of the convent. The score features songs that the women perform to raise money  — they also detail some of the turmoil that goes on behind the scenes.

Goggin admits that for most people who take on the challenge of directing a show that they wrote themselves, things can get tricky when certain scenes do not play as envisioned. As an artist who has faced his own work production after production, Goggin considers himself a very collaborative artist who welcomes the help of choreographers and actors in bringing to life the characters that he knows so well from his own childhood experiences.

“When I write something and put it down, it’s like it’s not mine. You have to let it go,” Goggin said in an interview over the phone.

The critical acclaim and fan support that came in the wake of the premiere of “Nunsense” inspired Goggin to continue creating new chapters for the hilariously holy saga. They include holiday and old western specials. The newest entry, “Nunset Boulevard: The Nunsense Hollywood Bowl Show,” opened in Minneapolis last November.

“It’s the audience. As long as they keep laughing, I’ll keep writing,” Goggin said.

Now that he is focused on his original work, Goggin said he enjoys working with this new cast of nuns. As far as theatrical experience is concerned, the cast is very diverse. Forty-year veteran Lenora Nemetz, who plays Sister Robert Anne, shares the stage with recent NYU graduate Brittany Ross (Sister Mary Amnesia).

A Connecticut resident, Ross finished her education at the Tisch School of the Arts in January and immediately made her way to Pittsburgh for her “Nunsense” audition. She remembers feeling “terrified” to have the brains behind the show scrutinizing her in the audition room, but since she landed the part, Ross says that Goggin has been the “sweetest” of directors.

“[Goggin] leaves rehearsals open for experimenting and allows us to ask questions whenever we need to,” Ross said.

This show’s small cast of five generates a peaceful atmosphere among the performers as they sweat in their constrictive costumes. Ross is quick to confess that “Nunsense” is not an easy show because of the endurance that it demands from its performers, but she also says that she looks forward to attending rehearsals and doing performances.