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Arts & Entertainment

For Once, It's OK to Laugh at Nuns

Belmont Dramatic Club presents the Nunsense Christmas musical Nuncrackers next week.

When did you last see a nun dance, truly cutting a rug and kicking her legs in the air?

If it’s been a while – or likely never -- you’re in for a treat and a lot of laughs when the Belmont Dramatic Club’s upcoming performance of ‘Nuncrackers’ opens on Friday, Dec. 2 at 8 p.m. in the Belmont Town Hall Auditorium.

The much-loved Christmas musical based on the ‘Nunsense’ series – with book, music and lyrics by Dan Goggin – will also run on Saturday, Dec. 3 and 10 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 11 at 3 p.m. for the closing matinee.

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“This is a holiday production with adults and children performing that includes takeoffs on the Nutcracker and Swan Lake,” said producer CherylAnn Welch, explaining that the musical comedy is the fourth of nine in Goggin’s ‘Nunsense’ series.

“The show has wit, humor and slapstick,” she said. “It’s a community effort (to put up this Christmas show) that parents and cast members have helped with and we’re hoping for a good community response.”

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Director Francine Davis described the show as “very silly” with a lot of fun music.

“There’s something inherently funny about nuns singing and dancing,” she said.

Rehearsals have been going well, Davis said, and the cast will be ready when the curtain rises next weekend.

Terry Lloyd of Belmont, who plays Reverend Mother Mary Regina, loves the fact that this is a family show that’s suitable for children, adults and seniors.

“When the children in the cast are cracking up over a given line or song, we know the show will be appealing to kids,” she said. “And there are references to people like Sophie Tucker (a brassy vaudeville singer who died in 1967) who I didn’t know about until researching her but anyone born in 1950 or before will surely remember.”

This is Lloyd’s second time performing with the Belmont Dramatic Club. Before rehearsals began, she wasn’t familiar with the ‘Nunsense’ series but said anyone who has seen some of the other shows will recognize the characters they know and love.  

Lloyd said she loves musical theatre and, while she doesn’t crave the spotlight, thoroughly enjoys the rehearsal process and camaraderie with the other actors.

“There’s something so appealing about musical theatre,” she said. “The actors are expressing strong emotions through songs.”

Ten-year-old Nathan Miller of Belmont, who plays Billy, also loves musical theatre.

His favorite part of this show is that he gets to play a troublemaker.

“But I don’t get in trouble for it,” he said with a huge grin.

A student at the International School of Boston, Nathan is no stranger to the stage. He first appeared in a play when he was in first grade and has since performed at his school and once in summer camp.

“What I like about acting is that you can be someone else,” Nathan said. “You have your own normal life and then change when you get onto the stage.”

What’s particularly interesting to Nathan about being in ‘Nuncrackers’ is that he is learning Christmas carols.

“I’m Jewish and it’s interesting to play a Christian person,” he said.

Needham resident Willow Funkhouser plays Joan, one of the children who attends St. Helen’s School.

Currently 11 years old (although she will turn 12 on Dec. 6), Willow has been acting since she was five.

“What I love about being on stage is you get to be dramatic and put it all out there but not really care,” said the sixth-grader who studies classical and contemporary dance at the Charles River Ballet Academy and would like to pursue a career as a professional performer in musical theatre. “You’re part of a group where everyone knows each other on a different level than other relationships.”

Taking part in a show is all about “connecting with others on the stage,” Willow said.

“I like the immediacy and split-second decisions you have to make as an actor,” she said.

And, most importantly, Willow said she loves being a part of something that makes others laugh.

Under the direction of Davis, musical director Kathryn Rosenbach who is also the chairman of the music department at the Powers Music School and choreographer Wanda Strukus, the 13 members of the cast have been rehearsing since the end of September.

The Belmont Dramatic Club is open to all and the actors in ‘Nuncrackers’ come from Belmont and its surrounding communities.

Other members of the cast are Belmont residents Mary Causland who plays Sister Leo, Gugu Khumalo as Maria, Rebecca Schwartz as Louise and Karen Young who plays Sister Amnesia. Denise Liset of Malden is Sister Mary Vincent De Paul, Alex Lucchesi of Everett is Father Virgil, Kelly MacIssac of Waltham is Sister Robert Anne, Erika Rubin of Watertown is Sister Mary Rita and Mary Helen Turner of Harvard is Sister Mary Hubert.

 

Tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for seniors and those under 18 and for groups of 10 people booked for the same performance. For reservations, call 617-484-6383 or email info@belmontdramaticclub.org. Tickets are also available at the door one hour before the curtain rises.

 

 

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