Review: PLEASANT VALLEY PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS 'NUNSENSE' in Caldwell, New Jersey

Pleasant Valley Productions presents 'Nunsense,' a musical comedy with book, music and lyrics by Dan Groggin at The First Presbyterian Church in Caldwell, New Jersey.

Nunsense tells the story about five nuns trying to manage a fundraiser. Majority of the Little Sisters of Hoboken died from botulism after eating vichyssoise prepared by Sister Julia. Most have been buried, but four sisters still remain in the convent freezer. In order to raise the money necessary to bury their sisters, the Mother Superior and her diverse group of nuns, do their best to put on a show and hilarity ensues. The audience is very much included in on the journey of each of the nuns. We watch as they sing, dance and so much more.

The very talented cast includes Jenn Bedell as Sister Robert Anne, Lorraine Ford Deman as Mother Superior, Julie Galorenzo as Sister Mary Hubert, Jaclyn Ingoglia as Sister Amnesia and Danielle Meola Valencia as Sister Mary Leo.

Danielle Meola Valencia spoke about Pleasant Valley Productions, "I was a part of their first show 'Songs for a New World,' which was a while back...and they actually had partnership with a church at the time and they did a number of shows and they took a hiatus for a couple of years... So what's really important about 'Nunsense' is that this is their rebirth back into the scene." After the church, that they were partnered with was knocked down, they looked to The First Presbyterian Church as their new venue. "Camille, saw the space and saw that it has a little stage, it's totally a gymnasium and she thought 'Nunsense' or 'Spelling Bee' which they had already done before and the pieces aligned," Julie Galorenzo added.

"We auditioned in the church... which was really funny but actually really awkward to walk down an aisle in a church and then be like 'I'm auditioning now!' to add extra pressure...' Jenn Bedell explained. Bedell and Galorenzo both laughed at the memory of questioning whether or not they should kneel in the church when they walked into their auditions. Auditions were held over two nights and callbacks were done on those same two nights as well. Jaclyn Ingoglia explained, "We sang our solos, danced and then read scenes. We had to sing our audition song which was our own thing, then they had us sing songs from the show."

Lorraine Ford Deman was very familiar with this show. "This is my third Reverend Mother but the fun thing about it is that the script has been bumped up and been through so many productions. Rue McClanahan had done it and a lot of whatever she came up with was incorporated into the script... And we had been doing our own adlibbing that we worked into the show which was great," Deman said.

The actresses even had some fun offstage during a photoshoot when they walked down the street in full Nun costume, went into a bar and ordered beers. "No one knew, we just walked in. We didn't get approval from the bar... we just sat at the bar and people were asking 'Can we get a pic with you?'" Galorenzo said laughing.

Bedell explained what she would like for the audience to take away from this show, "For me, what's so different about this show and also what I want people to know is there's not many musicals out there that is just five women on a stage, with no romance, no guy... It's literally five women being silly and goofy and talking to the audience and I think that's a really awesome thing to do and more people should have that opportunity because it's not something you usually get. You're usually an ensemble or have a romantic and you get caught up in that and to not have any of those strings is really freeing..." Valencia proudly interjected "We definitely passed The Bechdel Test!"

"It's cool because we get to feed off the audience! Any musical that you are in, you hope that you have a good audience, one that's very energetic and will laugh at your jokes, but because in this show there is no fourth wall, there is that audience dynamic that makes them part of the show and without them it would be so different," Ingoglia said.

Deman explained her hope for the audience, "Don't be afraid of Catholics! Catholics can be cool!"

"It's totally okay to have theater that is fun and a little mindless, but has a lot of heart...There are not many shows like this... It's a good lesson to not judge how people consume art. Some people might not think they need to see this show, while there are other people who do need it. My mom and her friends were here and her friend said to me 'You don't know how badly I needed to laugh' and that's why shows like this exist and it makes us feel good on many levels," Galorenzo said.

Directed by Camille DiLorenzo, Musical Direction by David Maglione, Choreographed by Amy Calzone and Stage Managed by Tracy Burkholder.

Show dates and times:

Friday, February 23, 2018

Doors open at 7PM for silent auction, bake sale, etc.

Performance begins at 8PM

Saturday, February 24, 2018

Pasta Dinner at 6:30 PM

Doors open at 7PM for silent auction, bake sale, etc.

Performance begins at 8PM

Sunday, February 25, 2018

Doors open at 1PM for silent auction, bake sale, etc.

Performance begins at 2PM

Location:

First Presbyterian Church

326 Bloomfield Ave, Caldwell

To purchase tickets, please visit https://pleasantvalleyprod.brownpapertickets.com

To learn more about Pleasant Valley Productions please visit https://www.pleasantvalleyproductions.org

To post a comment, you must register and login.