Nuncrackers, The

The Nuns are at it again.

In 1985 playwright Dan Goggin's highly successful Nunsense opened off Broadway. There has been over 5,000 productions worldwide, translated into 21 languages. The playwright, taking advantage of the immense popularity, has written five sequels: Nunsense 2: The Second Coming, Sister Amnesia's Country Western Nunsense Jamboree, Nuncrackers: The Nunsense Christmas Musical, Meshuggah_Nuns!, and Nunsensations: The Nunsense Vegas Revue.

Premiere Productions is staging, Nuncrackers: The Nunsense Christmas Musical, this holiday. In this permutation, Father Virgil (Justin Jorgensen) and a cadre of nuns led by the Reverend Mother (Eliane Weidauer) are aided by three kids; Maria (Shannon Johnston), Billy (Alex Gonzales), and Louisa (Bridget Estelle).

These nuns are a bit more raucous than the originals, though Sister Mary Hubert (Tammy Carr-Kron) attempts to maintain a bit of decorum. Sister Robert Anne (Deborah Wenck) brings some class to the group.
Any attempt to maintain the proper religiosity is totally destroyed once Sister Amnesia (Miranda Porter) enters. She is young, inexperienced in the ways of the church, and a total scatterbrain. The actress, whom we've seen in serious roles, takes Sister Amnesia to new heights of innocent sacrilege. Her interactions with the audience showcase her ad lib ability. The other sisters are a bit blasphemous at times. In fact, saints preserve us, on top of the double entendres, I do believe I heard a wee bit of cussing: the nuns refer to a nutcracker as a "ball breaker" and there are "Bible Balls" and "Candy Cane and Abel." Blame Goggin, not me; I just quoted them. The audience is quite amused as director Larry D. Jorgenson interprets the script broadly. In song and dance, the nuns inform us that "Jesus was Born in