Cloister politics, talent show mix
For the surviving Little Sisters of Hoboken, they are the ideal absolution for a song-and-dance extravaganza-fundraiser running right now — courtesy of West Otago Theatrical Society's Nunsense — the Mega Musical.
Tapanui's MLT Community Theatre knows no fourth wall as the family audience find themselves in the penguin house, laughing along with the unconventional convent-comedy cross of cloister politics and talent show.
Helen Schmidt's rush-huffing, former trapeze-artist, Irish Mother-Superior delivers a knockout brogue for the two-hour show, seeing her own stories as she seeks out and engages her wide-eyed audience.
The brawling Brooklyn drawl of Balclutha's Liv Butler punctuates her wimple impressions and craving for fame, before bursting in strident song, matched elsewhere by the chirrupping sweet soprano of Taitum Shawe's cutely clueless Sister Amnesia.
Having rehearsed since February, the whole choir backed by Father Virgil and his chorus cast show off their work habits, with tight co-ordination through toe-tapping hilarity, maybe best exemplified by Val Weatherburn's Sister Leo, ballerina of the absurd, somehow fusing toe-point daintiness with the panic of botulism.
"I've really enjoyed watching the development of the ladies from first reading to final rehearsal," director and choreographer Marne Hendriks said.
"None of the ladies have ever played a lead before, so Nunsense has been ideal to get so many in the limelight in one show."
Originating as a line of greeting cards, author Dan Goggin expanded his concept into a cabaret show and full-length musical that opened off-broadway in 1985 to spectacular success, spawning six sequels.
Audiences flocked to Nunsense in Tapanui last opening-weekend, and with the good word spread, expect a full congregation for the final four shows running tonight, Friday and Saturday's matinee and evening closer.
From solo stand-up to the chipper clicking of co-choreographer Kayla Wilcox's tapdance crescendo — led to glory by Kim McKechie's wise-cracking Sister Hubert — Nunsense delivereth gasps and laughs enough to raise the dead — or at least raise funds enough to get them out of the freezer ...
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