‘Nunsense II’ a success in Bangor

BANGOR — Ah, if only life were simple … if the solutions to problems could be revealed in song … if the frustration of stymied dreams could be eased just by kicking up your heels.

And yet the magic of Nunsense II Saturday night at Peake’s Auditorium was such that you were left with the feeling that somehow all that was not really so far-fetched after all.

Occasionally bawdy, often irreverent, always a joy, Nunsense II, The Second Coming, presented by St. Joseph Healthcare at Bangor High School, utilized the same characters as its predecessor which St. Joseph sponsored two years ago. In their latest escapade, five of the Little Sisters of Hoboken gave us glimpses of what makes each of them tick through outrageously funny song and dance as they thwarted attempts by another order to abscond with their recent sweepstakes winnings.

Plot was secondary, however, as Sister Mary Regina (Anne Pooler), Sister Mary Hubert (Peggy Welch), Sister Robert Anne (Karen McCall), Sister Mary Amnesia (Dorothy Pratt) and Sister Mary Leo (Amy Armstrong) used tongue-in-cheek Catholic humor and tomfoolery with the audience to project their individual personas. Their voices were golden, their polkas, pirouettes and soft-shoe were fluid — and the audience just lapped it up as they discovered in each nun a trace of themselves.

And so it was that everyone lamented right along with Sister Mary Leo her vain attempts to fulfull a lifelong dream to be a “sister prima ballerina.” They rejoiced in Sister Robert Anne’s revelation that, indeed, her life as a nun and a teacher was perfect — that it made her “feel whole.” The audience understood when Sister Mary Regina recounted her childhood as member of a circus troupe and how it taught her to “always go for the gold.” They “she-bopped” with Sister Mary Hubert as she appealed to her idol Elvis Presley, “what would you do when things go wrong?” And they fell in love with perpetually confused Sister Mary Amnesia as she struggled with the perplexities of life.

There wasn’t a thing amiss with Nunsense II. The five women on stage managed to be unfailingly funny, touching and incredibly human all at the same time. Karen McCall’s portrayal of tough-but-tender Sister Robert Anne was particularly appealing. Her “habit humor” had the audience in stitches, as she wound her veil around her head to become “teen-age mutant nunja turtle,” and belted out, “Everything’s coming up rosaries” as “Ethel Mernun.”

The production ended amid retrospection. Audience member Marge Rutan of Bangor pondered for a moment. “I guess we all have our dreams,” she sighed, “even nuns.”