Nuns return to Gaslight Theatre with Nuncrackers at Renaissance Center

Release Date: 11/9/2005. Expired: 12/17/2005

The sisters of Mount Saint Helen’s Convent are back and the laughs will be rolling when the Gaslight Dinner Theatre at The Renaissance Center in Dickson presents Nuncrackers: The Nunsense Christmas Musical.

Performances are 6:30 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, Dec. 1-17. Tickets are $27 and include a holiday buffet meal, drink, dessert and the performance. Senior matinees are at 12 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, Dec. 1-17, for patrons 55 and over. Tickets are $17 and include a lunch buffet, drink, dessert and the performance. Nuncrackers is sponsored by the Bank of Dickson.

Nuncrackers is the fourth installment in the Nunsense series written by Dan Goggin. The Gaslight Dinner Theatre presented an extremely successful production of Nunsense in 2001.

In Nuncrackers, the nuns of the convent are producing their first television special in a new TV studio that was built in the convent’s basement with money that Sister Amnesia won. It is to include an original ballet based on the Nutcracker, but, as usually happens to the Little Sisters of Hoboken, something goes wrong.

Not only is Sister Mary Leo, the convent’s resident ballerina, injured before taking the stage as the Sugar Plum Fairy, but also the gifts under the convent’s Christmas tree are missing and feared stolen.

While dealing with these unforeseen tragedies, the show must go on as the nuns, Father Virgil Manly Trott and students from Mount Saint Helen’s fill the airtime.

The program segments include a fruitcake cooking demonstration with Sister Julia, Child of God, who fails to show up, forcing Father Virgil to step in and imbibe in a little too much rum. Sister Mary Annette, a nun hand puppet, returns for the show and Rev. Mother Regina debuts the hilarious Catholic Home Shopping Service.

Among the countless laughs are new musical numbers as well as traditional holiday favorites.

“Nunsense was such a popular show when we presented it four years ago that we had to bring the sisters of Mount Saint Helen’s back,” said Pacer Harp, managing director of the Gaslight Dinner Theatre. “Combining the hilarity of Dan Goggin’s original concept with the Christmas season is just a natural choice for our holiday production. Nuncrackers is sure to be a smash.”

The cast includes Amy Scott, who played Sister Mary Amnesia in Nunsense and now moves into the role of Rev. Mother Regina. Scott is managing director of the Renaissance Players and has appeared in a number of Gaslight productions, including I Do! I Do!, I Hate Hamlet, The Dining Room and The Honky Tonk Angels, while also directing The Foreigner and Run for Your Wife.

Anna Hammonds, who has appeared in Gaslight productions of Run for Your Wife and The Foreigner, plays Sister Mary Amnesia, who has remembered that her church name is Sister Mary Paul.

Julie Meirick returns to the Gaslight to play Sister Mary Hubert. Meirick previously appeared in My Way: A Musical Tribute to Frank Sinatra.

Cindy Ellis makes her Gaslight Dinner Theatre debut as Sister Robert Anne. Ellis appeared as Mary Magdalene in the Renaissance Players production of Jesus Christ Superstar.

Fresh off his run in The Foreigner and the Renaissance Players production of Little Shop of Horrors, Zak Risinger portrays Father Virgil Manly Trott.

Katherine Jett (Louise Mayfield) and Daniel Bissell (John Kelly) play students at Mount Saint Helen’s Convent. Jett appeared in the Gaslight production of Run for Your Wife and several other productions at The Renaissance Center, including The Wizard of Oz, Cinderella, Jesus Christ Superstar and Romeo and Juliet. Bissell appeared in Run for Your Wife and The Foreigner, as well as Renaissance Players productions of The Wizard of Oz, Fiddler on the Roof, Jesus Christ Superstar and the MET series production of Nightfall with Edgar Allan Poe.

Bryan J. Wlas and Nathan W. Brown are appearing in their first Gaslight Dinner Theatre production as Brother Jerome and Brother Thomas, respectively. Wlas also is choreographer for the show and appeared in the Renaissance Players production of Little Shop of Horrors. Brown also is serving as musical director for the show.

The Gaslight production is directed by Hal Partlow, manager of The Renaissance Center’s Repertory Company and director of its Mind Enriching Theatre series. He has directed or appeared in numerous dinner theatre, community theatre and repertory company productions at the center.

Michigan native Goggin moved to New York to study as a classical countertenor and begin his singing career in the Broadway production of Luther, starring Albert Finney. He began writing scores for shows, including the Broadway production of Legend and two revues.

Nunsense became an international sensation in 1985, winning Outer Critics’ Circle Awards for Best Musical, Best Book and Best Music. It was followed by Nunsense II: The Second Coming, Sister Amnesia’s Country Western Nunsense Jamboree, Nuncrackers: The Nunsense Christmas Musical, Nunsense A-Men and Meshuggah-Nuns: The Ecumenical Nunsense #5.

In 2005, the Nunsense series marked the premiere of its newest installment: Nunsensations: The Nunsense Vegas Revue.

In addition to the pubic performances, Nuncrackers can be booked for private performances for groups of 25 or more on alternate evenings.

“The Gaslight Dinner Theatre is a wonderful way to celebrate Christmas for businesses, civic organizations and other groups,” said LeAnn Polk, director of Events at The Renaissance Center. “Dinner and a terrific professional theatre production are perfect for employees, valued customers, church celebrations and holiday parties.”

For more information on holiday party offerings at The Renaissance Center, contact Polk at (615)740-5503.

For more information on the Gaslight Dinner Theatre production of Nuncrackers: The Nunsense Christmas Musical, call Harp at (615)740-5550. To purchase tickets call (615)740-5570.

The Renaissance Center is a fine arts and technology education and performing arts center at 855 Highway 46 South in Dickson, just 35 miles west of Nashville on Interstate 40 at exit 172.

Visit the Theatre page for more about community and professional theatre.

News

Date Released	Expiration	Headline
No Press Releases to show...