Nunsense – The Musical

On this page you will find announcements, releases, news and reviews about the Center for the Arts Bonita Springs Community Players’ production of Nunsense – The Musical. Performances are Wednesday through Saturday, June 3-6 and Friday and Saturday, June 12 & 13 at 8:00 p.m. and on Sunday,  June 7 & 14 at 3:00 p.m. Tickets are available by calling the Centers for the Arts Bonita Springs at 239-495-8989 or online at www.artcenterbonita.org. The Center for Performing Arts Bonita Springs is located at 10150 Bonita Beach Road.

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Cindy McDonough shines as CFABS Musical Director for ‘Nunsense – The Musical’ (06-11-15)

Nunsense – The Musical resumes tomorrow night at the Center for Performing Arts Bonita Springs. Cindy McDonough serves as the Music Director for the show. Cindy is a life-long music lover. As a child she taught herself piano, then studied both piano and choral music in college. Besides Nunsense, she’s been the Music Director for two other CFABS musicals, Beauty and the Beast and The Perfect Game. She currently teaches piano at CFABS and is a Board Member of a local community chorus, the Voices of Naples.

Please see above for remaining Nunsense play dates, times and ticket information.

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Meet ‘Nunsense’ actor Marina Acosta-Miller (06-10-15)

On stage this weekend are the final three performances of Nunsense – The Musical. Playing the role of Sister Robert Anne is Marina Acosta – Miller.

Sister Robert Anne is a gal from a tough neighborhood in Brooklyn. Of the five sisters who perform in the Little Sister of Hoboken variety show, she is unquestionably the rebel of the group, cracking jokes, doing impersonations and butting heads with Mother Superior, Sister Mary Regina. She’s got game, knows she’s got talent, and believes she deserves a bigger part in the variety show. Thus, she croons “I Just Want to Be a Star.”

Marina is an active mother of three.  This is her third production at CFABS and her first musical since Evita with the Grafenwoehr Performing Arts Center.  When she is not on stage Marina loves to volunteer on costuming at the Centers for the Arts Bonita Springs.

Please see above for play dates, times and ticket information.

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Meet ‘Nunsense’ actor Grace Anderson (06-09-15)

Nunsense – The Musical resumes Friday night at the Center for Performing Arts in Bonita Springs. One luminary among the talented cast of five is fourteen year old Grace Anderson who plays Sister Mary Leo.

To be technical, Mary Leo hasn’t earned her black veil yet. A novice, she stands out among the other sisters because of her white veil. She stands out among her fellow cast mates because of her exceptional dancing. You see, Mary Leo does not just want to become a full-fledged nun. She aspires to become the very first Sister Ballerina, as we discover early on during a routine called “Benedicite.” But it is with “Soup’s On (The Dying Nun Ballet)” that Anderson earns her wings. She performs the number almost the entire number en pointe, simultaneously revealing a deceptively disarming and totally endearing sense of humor as she pantomimes the results of eating food prepared by the convent’s cook, Sister Julia (Child of God), who accidentally poisoned 52 of the order’s members with botulism-tainted vichyssoise.

Grace loves music and acting. She has been a part of several school productions and this is her second play with CFABS. Her favorite musicals include Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, Into The Woods, and Annie. In addition to singing and dancing, Grace enjoys figure skating and playing the piano.

Please see above for show dates, times and ticket information.

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Meet ‘Nunsense’ actress Amanda Carrion (06-07-15)

On stage now at the Center for Performing Arts Bonita Springs is Nunsense – The Musical. The premise of the play is that five members of the Little Sisters of Hoboken have to put on a variety show in order to raise money to bury four sisters, the last of a group of 52 nuns who were accidentally poisoned by the abbey’s cook, Sister Julia (Child of God), who served them botulism-tainted vichyssoise. One of the participants in this freewheeling, farcical song and dance show is Sister Mary Amnesia, brilliantly played by Amanda Carrion.

Even before the audience learns her name, it’s evident that something’s not quite right with Sister Mary Amnesia. She wears her headdress low on her forehead, nearly covering her eyebrows. Her eyes seem vacant, as though she’s contemplating some distant place. A mouthbreather, her lips are slightly parted. She moves haltingly, not sure of herself or her movements. It is only as the musical unfolds that we learn the cause of these attributes. The sister isn’t addled. She is suffering from amnesia as the result of blunt force trauma after taking a crucifix to the head.

Carrion is charming in the role, which she affects with an endearing simple-mindedness. Contrary to the Mother Superior’s assessment that “there’s no one home,” Carrion’s Sister Mary Amnesia is simply slow on the uptake. It generally takes a few vacuous seconds or more for her to catch on, but then she’s off and running,  delivering memorable lines and numbers, such as the quiz she conducts with the audience after the nuns’ opening number, and an over-the-top hand puppet show. Okay, so Jeff Dunham has nothing to worry about here, but she reduces the audience to giggles and titters nevertheless.

The part calls for Carrion to carry classical and country tunes, and she acquits herself well in the former but really shines with her rendition of I Could’ve Gone to Nashville. And it is only fitting that Sister Mary Amnesia is the one who ultimately delivers the convent from its impecunious state as she consistently steals scene after scene in the Little Sisters of Hoboken ersatz variety show.

Amanda studied theater at Florida Atlantic University and the Lee Strasberg Theater and Film Institute. While at FAU, she had the opportunity to work as Assistant Director on Women of Manhattan and play one of the Kit Kat Girls in Cabaret, Cassie from A Chorus Line in FAU’s Musical Review, and Ensemble in Ubu Rio. She has also played Jacko in Circus in the Wind, Coco in Zombie Prom (Northeast), Elizabeth Panelli in Getting and Spending (Phoenix Idealist), Wilma Atkins in The Rimers of Eldritch and sang in the Candle Light Processional at Disney’s Epcot Park. Nunsense is her first show since getting married and moving back to Florida from New York.

You can see Amanda in Nunsense at the Center for Performing Arts Bonita Springs. See above for remaining show dates, times and ticket information.

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Spotlight on ‘Nunsense’ actor Beverly Canell (06-06-15)

On stage now through June 14 at the Center for Performing Art in Bonita Springs is Nunsense, a delightfully nonsensical comedic variety show being performed by five members of the Little Sisters of Hoboken to raise money to bury four of their sisters who were accidentally poisoned by the convent cook, Sister Julia (Child of God). Beverly Canell plays the role of Sister Mary Hubert.

“Who ever thought that attending Catholic School for 13 years would culminate in my becoming (only for this production!) a nun?” quips Canell, whose character is second in command to Mother Superior, Sister Mary Regina played by Kateri Noga Sparks. One problem. In spite of her vow of humility, Canell’s character resents her position and is convinced (rightly) that she could do a much better job of running the convent. (Really, she couldn’t do much worse. Under Sister Mary Regina’s watch, not only did 52 nuns die, but then she spent some of the money needed to bury them on a home entertainment system for the convent – and that’s just the tip of her incompetence!) Canell does a good job of ramping up the tension from her rivalry with the Mother Superior in her scenes with Kateri Sparks.

Canell shines in a tap dance number, for which she gives credit to her tap mentor and troupe, but she provides the strongest vocals of the entire cast. She brings down the house in the show’s final ensemble number, a parody of the gospel singers who rock their congregations on Sundays in Baptist, Episcopal and other congregations throughout the south.

Beverly’s role in Nunsense is quite a departure from her last part, which was that of the fearful spinster landlady, Fraulein Schneider, in Cabaret. She has also played Renee in Odd Couple, Female Version, Miss Flannery in Thoroughly Modern Millie, Mary in Mauritius and, of course, the General in Guys and Dolls.

See above for remaining show dates, times and ticket information.

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Meet ‘Nunsense’ Reverend Mother Kateri Noga Sparks (06-05-15)

On stage now through June 14 at the Center for Performing Arts in Bonita Springs is Dan Goggin’s iconic musical Nunsense. Kateri Noga Sparks plays the role of Sister Mary Regina, the take-charge Mother Superior of the Little Sisters of Hoboken, New Jersery.

Sparks’ Sister Mary Regina is a conundrum of inconsistency. As the convent’s Mother Superior, she is responsible for the nuns in her convent. But she is incredulously upbeat and jovial for someone who just lost 52 of the nuns under your supervision and care. More, she may be partially responsible for their poisoning by the cloister’s cook, Sister Julia, Child of God. As the play unfolds, we discover that she had no idea just how incompetent Sister Julia was. On top of that, she irrationally spends money on a home entertainment system for the abbey that was needed to bury four of the sisters who perished eating Sister Julia’s botulism-laced vichyssoise. But perhaps it’s because the Reverend Mother was a circus performer before she entered the sisterhood. So it’s only fair to cut her a little slack while she transitions from tightrope walker to ringmaster for a group of dysfunctional nuns.

To be sure, there are plenty of pithy one-liners and humor to go around, but Sister Mary Regina’s Rush-intoxicated nonstop laugh-a-thon is a show stopper. Like a yawn, Sparks’ cascade of laughter is contagious and the audience can’t help but join in and laugh right along, especially when Sparks falls off of the red-tufted barstools she’s sitting on and has to struggle like a hooked fish to free her tangled habit, inducing her to inchworm across the stage shouting, “Free willy, free Willy” and inviting the audience to “sit back and watch a couple of butch nuns dance.”

Kateri hails originally from Utica, New York, where she performed with M. Proctor Theatre Guild Community Theatre at Grace Church, performing in Godspell, Lucky Stiff, 70 Girls 70 and The Apple Tree. While in high school, she performed in the chorus of Destry Rides Again and was part of three Catholic High Schools’ production of two mega-variety shows called Take Time Out and It’s Time Now. Kateri lives in Naples, sings with the Voices of Naples and volunteers as a Critter Courier for the Conservancy of SW Florida.

You can see Kateri and laugh along with her and the rest of the cast at the Center for Performing Arts Bonita Springs. See above for remaining show dates, times and ticket information.

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‘Nunsense’ is foot-stomping, hand-clapping, laugh-a-thon good time (06-04-15)

On stage now through June 14 at the Center for Performing Arts in Bonita Springs is Nunsense, a musical written in 1983 by Dan Goggin. It’s not great theater in the tradition of Chicago or Cabaret, but it doesn’t purport to be. Nunsense is lighthearted, energetically entertaining zaniness that will have you tapping your feet, clapping your hands and throwing your head back with uncontrollable peals of laughter. It’s the place to be if you’re just looking to escape reality for two precious hours.

Sister Mary Regina, the Reverend Mother of the Little Sisters of Hoboken, lets the audience know from the jump that they are in for a night of nonsense, er, nunsense. She reminds you of your highly-eccentric aunt – the one that always seemed to have a piece of hard candy in her purse whenever she came to visit. And when she takes the stage, she leans forward and takes each audience member into her confidence. It seems that Sister Mary Regina has gotten herself in something of a jam. You see, 52 members of her convent were accidentally poisoned by their cook, Sister Julia, Child of God. (What? You expecting Sister Anthony Bourdain or Alaina Zimmern?) They’d raised a lot of money to lay the sisters to rest, but the Reverend Mother underestimated the cost of the funerals and spent some of the funds on a home entertainment system for the abbey. (To console the survivors, no doubt.) As a result, they’d had to store the last four sisters in the freezer, but with the Board of Health coming in a few days to inspect the cooler, they needed to raise more money in a hurry. Hence, the Reverend Mother divulges, she and four of the 19 survivors are putting on a variety show filled with upbeat musical performances, dance routines, a puppet show and stand-up comedy that Carol Burnette (who?) would have been proud to stage.

Keeping it real, a number of jokes fail to land and the bits between the musical performances and dance numbers tend to drag. But the lively song and dance routines more than compensate for these weaknesses, and you will be pleasantly surprised by the strength of each actor’s vocals and the quality of the musical accompaniment provided by the Nunsense Orchestra, which is composed of Evie Mason (keyboard/piano), Marco Ferri (violin), Dan Klimoski (flute/clarinet/saxophone), Charlie DeGangi (drums/percussion/sound effects) and Martin Hougtaling (electric double bass).

Director Bob Garnett had to conscript his cast after only two actors responded to his call for auditions. Perhaps that was for the best, as the acting is really, really good. Kateri Noga Sparks plays the Reverend Mother,  a by-the-book former circus performer who slays the audience with a Rush-induced laugh-a-thon.  Beverly Canell is Sister Mary Hubert, the Mistress of Novices who, in spite of her vow of humility, chafes in her habit for the opportunity to assume the reins of command. Marina Acosta-Miller plays Sister Robert Anne, a wisecracking, streetwise nun from Brooklyn who just wants a bigger role in the show. Fourteen-year-old Grace Anderson is Sister Mary Leo, a demure wannabe ballerina who has yet to earn her habit. And Amanda Carrion steals the show as the vacant and vacuous Sister Mary Amnesia, who’s lost her memory after a crucifix fell on her head.

These are not the severe, dour mirthless nuns who may have taught you and your friends in grade school. And apparently they weren’t close with the 52 nuns who died of terminal vichyssoise because they show no vestiges of grief, sadness or mourning. They chortle. They jest. They interact cheerfully with each other and the audience throughout and following the show. They’re the cure for whatever ails you. And if you’re really brave, you can even take home a copy of Sister Julia, Child of God’s cookbook. They’re on sale in the lobby before and after the show.

See above for remaining performance dates, times and ticket information.

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Sometimes life makes no sense, and sometimes it makes ‘Nunsense’ (06-02-15)

When Center for the Arts Bonita Springs Executive Artistic Director Craig Price asked Bob Garnett to direct Nunsense, Garnett jumped at the offer. He was familiar with the play, having directed the production for the Sugden Theatre seven years ago. The cast is small and manageable. So are the set and props. What could be simpler?

Well, sometimes life makes no sense. And sometimes it makes Nunsense. The first challenge that Garnett encountered was lack of turn out to his audition call. “Only two actors came to the audition and I couldn’t cast either of them,” Garnett relates. “One couldn’t sing and the other wasn’t the right age for any of the parts.” So Bob had to conduct an intervention and go out find five salty actresses to play the parts of Sister Mary Regina, a/k/a the Mother Superior of the Little Sisters of Hoboken, where the convent’s cook, Sister Julia, Child of God, has killed 52 other nuns by serving them botulism-tainted vichyssoise, and Sisters Mary Hubert, Mary Amnesia, Robert Anne and Mary Leo, who were spared because they were off playing bingo with a group of Maryknolls. He tapped Kateri Noga Sparks, Beverly Canell, Amanda Carrion, Marina Acosta-Miller and Grace Anderson respectively to fill the roles.

“It’s the second time I’ve directed an all-female cast for CFABS,” observes Garnett, who directed last season’s Odd Couple, female version. But this time around none of his cast members has a vast amount of acting experience. “It’s been very gratifying taking these women and producing a performance that I’m very proud of,” Garnett flourishes. “We’re ready for tomorrow night. We’re ready for an audience. Everyone who comes is going to walk away feeling thoroughly, thoroughly entertained.”

The play is essentially a fundraiser designed to raise the money that the convent needs to bury their dead Sisters, who are being stored in the convent’s freezer, much to the consternation of the Board of Health. “During the course of the play, each Sister has her own spot or bit that tells the audience who she is through song or dialogue. It’s a very, very entertaining show.”

The cast has rehearsed their parts four times a week for the last eight weeks. Rehearsals not only included memorizing and delivering their lines, but learning songs, dances and choreography, the latter compliments of Angela Hicks, who teaches dance at the Centers for the Arts Bonita Springs (read ensuing story, below). “The tunes are pretty catchy and we have a five piece band on stage to provide the music,” Garnett relates.

The venue is the Moe Auditorium, which was the home of the Living Waters  Community Church until the Centers for the Arts purchased the building in January of 2014. “The church incorporated video and music in its services,” Garnett notes, so the acoustics are good, the stage is large and there’s ample seating. “It is kind of ironic that we’re performing ‘Nunsense’ in an former church,” Garnett adds wryly.

Naples theatergoers may recall Garnett as Scrooge in the Naples Players’ 2010 production of A Christmas Carol. Garnett has been involved in theater in Naples for the past 30 years and has most recently directed Sex After Death and Waiting for My Vote by Chuck Wood, finalists in the Naples Players’ ETC Readers’ Theatre 9th and 10th Annual “Evening of New Plays” in 2012 and 2013.

“I am blessed to return to CFABS to once again be a part of  their growing theater department,” Bob adds. “I’m very pleased to work with Craig, the staff, and my talented cast. I hope they win your heart (and soul).”

The world may not always make sense, but this show unquestionably makes Nunsense.

See above for play dates, times and ticket information.

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Meet ‘Nunsense’ choreographer Angela Hicks (05-28-15)

The Centers for the Arts Bonita Springs Community Players will be presenting Nunsense – A Musical in June at the Center for the Performing Arts Bonita Springs.Angela Hicks provides the choreography for the show. A graduate of Florida Gulf Coast University with a B.A. in Art and a Minor in Interdisciplinary Studies, Hicks is well-suited to the task of staging a five-nun talent show.

As a dance instructor at the Center for the Arts of Bonita Springs since 2008, Angela teaches hundreds of young dancers ballet, point, jazz, lyrical, modern, hip hop, world dance and Broadway. “Working in the performing and visual arts allows me to connect with people of any age,” Angela maintains. “I am able to enhance student skills and help set goals to reach their fullest potential. My dance instruction incorporates history, culture, and muscular science studies. My experience as a performer allows me to showcase, inspire and pass on the drive to succeed.”

Many have seen Angela’s performance art pieces in downtown Fort Myers at the Franklin Shops on First and other venues during both Art Walk and Music Walk, as well as at cultural festivals, concerts, fundraisers and corporate events. “These performance pieces are part of a series called ‘Dancer’s Mark,’” Angela expounds. “They involve live painting, where my entire figure is covered in paint while balancing a sharp scimitar sword. The choreography of the dances showcase high skill in balance, concentration, and the direct imprint of movement on canvas. This particular performance was collaborated with digital artist Jason McDonald, illuminating my figure with neon colors and adding a silhouette dancer to the back ground.”

Angela was first enrolled at the age of five at a local dance adademy, where she learned ballet, pointe, jazz, lyrical, modern and hip hop. Later on, she also learned Polynesian dance, ballroom, and Latin. But it was her grandmother who taught her the fine art of belly dancing. Her grandmother also owned a modelling agency and etiquette school and instilled in Angela lifelong lessons about the importance of grace, poise and performance presence.

Angela’s passion passion for belly dance took off in earnest when she was 17. She began writing her own syllabus, started teaching, and began incorporating props into her own performances. That’s when she came across the idea of dancing with a sword. Her initial reaction was to dismiss the idea out of hand because of her phobia of daggers, swords and anything else that was sharp for that matter. (It’s called aichmophobia, the fear of sharp objects.) But a few days later, she resisted the notion that her fears would limit her creative output. Within a week, she had a sharp double-edged Turkish Scimitar Sword and began training herself in the discipline of sword balancing. Her grandmother’s old school etiquette technique of balancing books on her head for posture and grace came in handy yet again.

“My favorite performances are when I catch people off guard,” Angela chuckles. “My street shows downtown seem to do this best. I feed off the energy of the crowd when I break out the sword and the group begins to flood the streets. I hear cars honking because they can’t drive through. Then I notice the cars slowing down to stop so they can watch as well. It’s an honored feeling to know people appreciate what I do.”

But there’s an overarching message associated with Hicks’ performances. “My dance is a story. It is a test to show how much trust I have in myself. The sword dance counteracts the stigma of belly dancing to just be flirty and pretty. It displays that along with beauty, women have strength of body, mind, and soul.”

Through dance, Hicks has also discovered the power of visualization. “When I practice,I am literally looking into a mirror to see where my body moves and imagining where it needs to be,” Angela explains. “I apply that to my career and personal life, constantly reviewing where I am today and think what can I do to bring myself where I want to be … need to be … tomorrow.”

It’s all about self-reliance. “You are the most important person you can depend on,” she tells her students. “So make that person strong.”

Inspiring local youth through the arts is Angela’s daily aspiration. Registration is now open for Angela’s summer classes. Visit www.artcenterbonita.org to learn more.

And to see Angela’s work as a choreographer, be sure to take in Nunsense. See above for play dates, times and ticket information

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Meet ‘Nunsense’ playwright Dan Goggin (05-18-15)

The idea of a grown man playing with dolls is disturbing. It’s downright alarming when the doll is of a Dominican nun. But for Dan Goggin is was the start of one of the most successful franchises in the history of theater.

“In 1981, when nuns had modernized their habits, a friend of mine who was a Dominican Brother gave me a mannequin dressed as a traditional Dominican nun,” Goggin recounts. “He called her a ‘terrific conversation piece.’ Well, at some point, a photographer I knew said we should make a nun greeting card of her.”

The idea found a receptive host. After all, Goggin had been taught by Marywood Dominican Sisters in grade school and had also been a seminarian. Goggin used these experiences to create a line of greeting cards that feature a nun offering tart quips. They caught on so quickly that Goggin decided to expand the concept into a cabaret show called The Nunsense Story, which opened in 1983 for a four-day run at Manhattan’s Duplex Playhouse.

“We were scheduled to play at the original Duplex on Grove Street in Greenwich Village for four weekends,” Goggin laughs. “We ended up staying for 38 weeks. From there, it was literally audience enthusiasm that led to a producer taking an option, requiring many rewrites and changing the cast to all nuns. After a workshop at the Baldwin School on West 74th Street, we moved to the Cherry Lane in 1985 where, as they say, ‘the rest is history.’”

Nunsense was one of off-Broadway’s biggest commercial successes. It ran a total of 3,672 performances. By the time it closed, it had become an international phenomenon translated into 21 languages with more than 5,000 productions worldwide. Goggin followed it with six sequels, Nunsense 2: The Second Coming, Sister Amnesia’s Country Western Nunsense Jamboree, Nuncrackers: The Nunsense Christmas Musical, Meshuggah-Nuns!, Nunsensations: The Nunsense Vegas Revue, and Nunset Boulevard.

Nunsense received the 1986 Outer Critics’ Circle Awards for Best Musical, Best Book, and Best Music. Nunsense and Nunsense 2: The Second Coming, both starring Rue McClanahan, have been recorded for the A&E Television Network. Nunsense 3: The Jamboree toured the U.S. starring Georgia Engel and has been recorded for television at the Grand Ole Opry starring Vicki Lawrence. Nuncrackers: The Nunsense Christmas Musical premiered in October 1998, followed by a national tour starring Dody Goodman, Jeff Trachta and Dawn Wells. The Nuncrackers television special playing on the PBS network starring Rue McClanahan with guest star John Ritter, received and Emmy nomination for Best Musical Score. Meshuggah-Nuns: The Ecumenical Nunsense premiered in September 2002 and is currently out on DVD. The All-Star touring production of Nunsense featuring Kaye Ballard, Georgia Engel, Mimi Hines, Darlene Love and Lee Meriwether marked the 20th anniversary of the original show.

In 1998, Goggin introduced an all-male version of the show under the title of Nunsense A-Men! It opened to rave reviews that June at the 47th Street Theatre in New York and has since been produced with “Laugh-In’s” Arte Johnson, impressionist Frank Gorshin, and Olympic Champion Greg Louganis.

In 2005 Nunsensations: The Nunsense Vegas Revue premiered and in 2008, there was a national tour of Nunsense starring Sally Struthers. Sister Robert Anne’s Cabaret Class (A one-nun musical) and Nunset Boulevard: The Nunsense Hollywood Bowl Show are the latest shows in the series.

Goggin began his career as a singer in the Broadway production of Luther, which starred Albert Finney. He then toured for five years as a member of the folksinging duo, The Saxons, before writing the music for and appearing in the off-Broadway musical Hark!.

Goggin began composing both music and lyrics for revues satirizing current events, trends, and personalities. He later composed incidental music for the short-lived 1976 Broadway production, Legend, starring Elizabeth Ashley and F. Murray Abraham, which closed after five performances. Goggin also wrote the book, music, and lyrics for A One-Way Ticket To Broadway and Balancing Act.

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More ‘Nunsense’ (05-17-15)

Five of the 19 surviving Little Sisters of Hoboken, a one-time missionary order that ran a leper colony on an island south of France, discover that their cook, Sister Julia, Child of God, accidentally killed the other fifty-two residents of the convent with her tainted vichyssoise while they were off playing bingo with a group of Maryknolls. Upon discovering the disaster, Mother Superior had a vision in which she was told to start a greeting card company to raise funds for the burials. The greeting cards were an enormous success and, thinking there was plenty of money, the Reverend Mother bought a VCR and camcorder (modern versions of the play substitute HD TVs and home entertainment systems) for the convent, leaving her with no money in the kitty to pay for the last four burials. With the deceased nuns on ice in the deep freeze, they decide to stage a variety show in the Mount Saint Helen’s School auditorium to raise the necessary amount. Participating in the project are Mother Superior Mary Regina, a former circus performer who cannot resist the spotlight; her competitive but dignified rival, second-in-command Sister Mary Hubert; Sister Robert Anne, a streetwise nun from Brooklyn; Sister Mary Leo, a novice who is determined to be the world’s first ballerina nun; and wacky, childlike Sister Mary Amnesia, who lost her memory when a crucifix fell on her head. The entertainment that they present includes solo star turns, madcap dance routines, and an audience quiz.

This is Nunsense, the hilarious musical comedy by Dan Goggin. Originating as a line of greeting cards, Goggin expanded the concept into a cabaret that ran for 38 weeks. The original production of Nunsense, directed by Goggin, opened on December 12, 1985 at the Off-Broadway Cherry Lane Theatre, moving to the Douglas Fairbanks Theater for the majority of its ten year run. It ran for 3,672 performances, becoming the second-longest running Off-Broadway show in history (after The Fantasticks). By the time it closed, it had become an international phenomenon translated into at least 26 languages with more than 8,000 productions worldwide. It has grossed over $500 million worldwide, and more than 25,000 women have played in Nunsense productions worldwide, including Edie Adams, Maxine Audley, Kaye Ballard, Honor Blackman, Pat Carroll, Peggy Cass, Phyllis Diller, Sally Struthers, Louise Gold, Maggie Fitzhugh and JoAnne Worley. The show has since been adapted for television, starring Rue McClanahan, and has spawned six sequels and three spin-offs.

The five-woman production won four Outer Critics Circle Awards, including best Off-Broadway musical, best book and best music.

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Centers for the Arts Bonita Springs Community Players presenting ‘Nunsense the Musical’ in June (05-16-15)

The Centers for the Arts Bonita Springs Community Players will be presenting Nunsense – A Musical in June at the Center for the Performing Arts Bonita Springs.

Directed by Bob Garnett, this hilarious international hit takes you to a variety show fundraiser put on by the Little Sisters of Hoboken to raise money to bury sisters accidently poisoned by the convent cook, Sister Julia (Child of God). The entertainment that they present includes solo star turns, madcap dance routines, and an audience quiz.

Performances are Wednesday through Saturday, June 3-6 and Friday and Saturday, June 12 & 13 at 8:00 p.m. and on Sunday,  June 7 & 14 at 3:00 p.m. Tickets are available by calling the Centers for the Arts Bonita Springs at 239-495-8989 or online at www.artcenterbonita.org. The Center for Performing Arts Bonita Springs is located at 10150 Bonita Beach Road.

The Centers for the Arts Bonita Springs is committed to enrich the culture of our diverse community by providing opportunities for artistic expression, education and appreciation in a supportive and nurturing environment. Two Centers – One Mission – “Arts for All