Theater Review—

Cabaret’s Nuns Are Brimming With Talent

By Julie Stern

BRIDGEPORT — Since its inception back in the 1980S, Dan Goggins’ Nunsense and its many spinoffs have packed theaters with fans eager to see more of the antics of the placid Reverend Mother, the wisecracking Sister Robert Anne, the dim-witted Sister Amnesia and the hopeful Sister Hubert.

Bridgeport’s Downtown Cabaret Theater’s production of the latest chapter in the series, Meshuggah-Nuns, is no exception. The audience appeared delighted during a recent performance, leaning forward in rapt attention, and bursting into peals of laughter at all the appropriate moments.

In various earlier incarnations, the sisters have wrestled with such problems as what to do with the dead bodies in the convent freezer (after a kitchen error led to mass food poisoning) and how to get Sister Amnesia to Nashville to the Grand Ole Opry once she remembered that she was really a country and western singer (who lost her memory when a crucifix fell on her head).

Now, in Meshuggah (Yiddish for “crazy”) Nuns, the premise is that they are embarked on a luxury “Faiths of All Nations” world cruise. Part of the scheduled entertainment was to have been a performance of Fiddler on the Roof. But when a week of violent storms leaves most of the actors too sick to go on stage, the sisters agree to take over, and together with Howard (the actor who was supposed to play Tevye), they put together a spur of the moment variety show celebrating the similarities between Catholics and Jews.

The result is very much like burlesque, but without the sexual innuendoes. Howard teaches the sisters bits of Yiddish, and they in turn have lots of fun putting on wigs and doing imitations of Sophie Tucker and the Andrews Sisters. There is also a clever nun puppet named Sister Marie-Annette, who gets away with some good one-liners, and the ship-board milieu is taken advantage of in the finale to the first act, “DasBoat,” which manages to be a send-up of most of the famous movies about disasters at sea, from Moby Dick and Jaws to Titanic and The Poseidon Adventure.

The entire Nunsense concept may not be to everyone’s taste, but obviously many people love it. Furthermore, as is usually the case, this DCT production is brimming with talent. Rachel Cohen, as Sister Robert Anne, has a marvelous voice, along with flawless timing and comic presence. Michael J. Farina, as Howard/Tevye, is an excellent actor who projects a persona that is caricatured but extremely likeable. It would be easy to see him as Sancho Panza in Man of LaMancha.

Bonnie Lee as the Reverend Mother, Bambi Jones as Sister Hubert, and Jeanne Tinker as Sister Amnesia (a couple of omelets short of a brunch) are also perfectly played.

Also, the Band, under the direction of Stephen Purdy, provides great sound. The entire show fills the stage so effectively it is hard to believe that there are only five cast members backed by four musicians.

(Performances of Meshuggah-Nuns! continue through October 19. Shows are Friday and Saturday evenings and late Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Tickets run from $32 to $42, with senior citizen and group discounts available.

The theater, at 263 Golden Hill Street in Bridgeport, can be reached for additional information at 203-576-1636.)