Meshuggah-Nuns! REVIEWS
	On This Page
		Newsday

'Meshuggah-Nuns!' at Gateway Playhouse

By Steve Parks
June 24, 2009

"Nunsense," the 1985 Off-Broadway musical inspired by a line of greeting cards, was irreverently amusing. But with each reincarnation - "Nunsense II: The Second Coming," "Nuncrackers: The Nunsense Christmas Musical" and "Meshuggah-Nuns!" (now demeaning our sense of humor at Gateway Playhouse) - Dan Goggin's wacky-nuns franchise has gone as bankrupt as GM. Not that it isn't a cash cow - what else could motivate Goggin to embarrass himself with such ecumenical drivel?

In this fourth edition, the Sisters of Hoboken take a Faith of All Nations cruise. Their unseen chef, Sister Julia Child of God, who poisoned the order in the original "Nunsense," mistakenly puts Dramamine in their brownies. So the sisters are unaffected by the rough seas that incapacitate the cast of "Fiddler on the Roof." In their usual show-must-go-on spirit, they create a revue with the iron-stomach actor who plays Tevye. It's not an unpromising premise. And the cast at Gateway - including two Broadway veterans among its five players - bravely attempts to sell it. They may as well peddle flood insurance to fish.

Dave Edwards as Howard Liszt - his father was a grocer, so that makes him a "grocery Lizst," Reverend Mother (Katherine Pecevich) wisecracks - also directs and choreographs. But he can't save this material. We could only hope that Kristen Mengelkoch as Sister Amnesia had forgotten her lines. "Please help me turn some tricks," she deadpans in commencing her lame magic act.

In a rare moment of interest, Edwards and Erin Crosby as Sister Robert Anne commit blasphemy by equating his carnal love to her relationship with God in "A Love Like This." Crosby later proves she has the chops to deliver a showstopper - if only there were a show to stop - with a raucous, if repetitive, "I'll Find a Song to Sing." Joy Lynn Matthews as Sister Hubert imbues "Rock the Boat" with more blues character than the song deserves.

Brendan Whiting's musicians play with as much dignity as they can muster while Barry Axtell's shipboard set left me wishing they were doing "Anything Goes" instead.

Please, Gateway, don't encourage Goggin further. Spare us his latest sequel, "Nunsensations: The Nunsense Vegas Revue.

"WHAT L.I. premiere of "Meshuggah-Nuns!"

WHEN | WHERE Wednesday, Friday and Tuesday nights at 8; Thursday, 2 and 8 p.m.; Saturday, 3 and 8:30 p.m.; Sunday, 7 p.m.; through July 5, Gateway Playhouse, 215 S. Country Rd., Bellport