THEATER REVIEW : ‘Nunsense’ in Oxnard Is Truly a Talent Show : Production of the musical comedy about a convent’s fund-raising event overcomes a weak script with creativity.

If you are looking for evidence that an imaginative and talented production can overcome the shortcomings of a script, you need go no further than Heritage Square in Oxnard and view the current production of “Nunsense.” It’s very funny almost despite Dan Goggin’s original script, which is ridden with bad puns and overly obvious irreverent japes.

The show, an off-Broadway perennial (now in its zillionth continuous year) and community theater standard, opened last week under the auspices of the newly formed Ventura County Actors’ Theatre; the group is an offshoot of the old Cabrillo Music Theatre. (Another production will open in Simi Valley on May 20; a group in Ojai will open “Nunsense II” on June 17, having presented the original show last fall).

For those not aware, “Nunsense” is supposed to be a talent show given by a group of nuns to benefit themselves; they need the money to defrost several dead members of their order who are currently at rest in the convent’s freezer. And if you think that’s funny. . . .

Director Sean Moran, who was at the helm of several of the Cabrillo group’s musicals, gives this “Nunsense” an air of improvisation that helps it considerably: much of the dialogue seems truly spontaneous even when it isn’t, something that requires better than average actors, which Moran has assembled here.

They’re also good singers, much better than the show requires. Among the more notable voices are Lorraine MacDonald as Sister Mary Robert Anne, and the fellow who calls himself “Spanky,” who plays Sister Mary Amnesia, the nun who has forgotten her true identity since being hit on the head with a crucifix (these are the jokes, folks).

Yes, he’s one of two men who play nuns here; the other is director Moran himself, stepping in halfway through rehearsals to replace the woman originally cast as the Mother Superior.

Jennifer Owens plays the novice Sister Mary Leo, an aspiring dancer trying to incorporate ballet into her devotion, and Linda Marie plays Sister Mary Hubert, Mistress of Novices.

High points include MacDonald’s appearances as Hillary Rodham Clinton and Tonya Harding--characters not in Goggin’s original show.

The show is being presented in Heritage Square’s chapel, a location that adds considerably to whatever realism might manifest itself in “Nunsense.”

Details

* WHAT: “Nunsense.”

* WHEN: Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m.; Sundays at 2 p.m., through May 28.

* WHERE: Heritage Square Hall, 731 S. A St. (Heritage Square), Oxnard.

* HOW MUCH: General admission $10.

* FYI: For reservations or further information, call 482-1533 or 482-5708.