Theater Review : These Sisters Are Second to Nun

A message to community-theater companies: Get thee to Huntington Beach Playhouse, whose latest show, “Nunsense,” is an example of the way things should be done.

The way things should be done in community theater results in one basic effect--if the show works, an audience won’t care if these are pros, amateurs, or somebody in between. They saw a real show.

And they’re putting on a show in Huntington Beach, fully up to the standard of this company’s fine, newish theater facility, the kind of intimate mid-size house Los Angeles hungers for. It’s obvious why “Nunsense” continues to be a worldwide phenomenon, and why Dan Goggin’s musical is one of the few theater pieces in recent years to spawn a sequel.

You understand, because you truly don’t want these kooky nuns to leave. And yet is it a contradiction that “Nunsense I” feels too long and a tad padded? It has that Jackie Gleason effect: Great shtick, but get off already.

Then again, virtually every variety show has this effect, and “Nunsense”--in case you’ve been stranded with the Bud Light desert island guys--is such a show, staged by the Little Sisters of Hoboken to raise funds for the burial of their suddenly dead colleagues.

It seems that Sister Julia Child of God cooked up a bad pot of vichyssoise, reducing the order’s number from 71 to 19. The four nuns with some show-biz talent, plus itching-to-be-a-star-understudy Sister Robert Anne (Laura Lentz), are desperate to get the cash to arrange for proper burials.

It’s the perfect framework to insert anything and everything, and though Goggin is a little too eager to throw in more than he probably should, this is not low-cal comedy. This is divine indulgence, song after song stuffed with delicious wordplay and topped with the sisters’ motto, “Though we’re on our way to heaven / We’re here to raise some hell!”

Terri Miller Schmidt is Sister Mary Regina, the authoritative but secretly irreverent Reverend Mother, Moira Nash is Regina’s kindly assistant, Jenny McGlinchey is the order’s incredibly dim-bulb Sister Mary Amnesia, and Anne Chen is the ballerina-in-habit Sister Mary Leo. With Lentz crashing the party at every possible opportunity, this is a quintet of nuts, played with the kind of gleeful verve Goggin intended.

Watch McGlinchey throw the whole evening a left curve with her dexterously nutty rendition--complete with her “Muppet”-like companion--of “So You Want to Be a Nun,” or the whole ensemble deliver some genuine panic-attack comedy with “We’ve Got to Clean Out the Freezer,” and you’re witnessing musical comedy as it was meant to be.

These are actors who also happen to sing well (and are well guided by musical director Bill Wolfe), relishing the chance not to skewer the Catholic Church but to send up every kind of American holier-than-thou sentiment with distinctly chiseled characters.

The ever-smiling Chen, trying out her ballet moves, flowers with kooky cheeriness, while Lentz superbly blends Sister Robert Anne’s Brooklyn-bred street-smarts, ambitious drive and devotional heart. McGlinchey nearly steals the evening, but not with the skillful Schmidt in charge.

Director Phyllis B. Gitlin pulls off the neat trick every “Nunsense” director must do, which is to make a show about a slap-dash variety show move merrily along without a hitch.

The key man behind the scenes is Bob Ashby--not only co-producer (with Terri Verhaegen), but also light and set designer, technical director and construction crew--with a resulting production look that is aptly tacky.

Ah, but tacky or not, the Little Sisters mean well, and we can only hope that these particular sisters come back with the sequel.

* “Nunsense,” Huntington Beach Playhouse, 7111 Talbert Ave., Huntington Beach. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m. Ends Feb. 5. $10-$12. (714) 375-0696. Running time: 2 hours. Terri Miller Schmidt: Sister Mary Regina

Moira Nash: Sister Mary Hubert

Laura Lentz: Sister Robert Anne

Jenny McGlinchey: Sister Mary Amnesia

Anne Chen: Sister Mary Leo

A Huntington Beach Playhouse production of Dan Goggin’s musical comedy. Directed by Phyllis B. Gitlin. Set and Lights: Bob Ashby. Musical director: Bill Wolfe. Choreographer: Larry Watts. Costumes: Tom Phillips.