The Sun-Sentinel - 7/18/05

-Jack Zink


Capsule Review

Little Sisters strut their stuff for the seventh time


Dan Goggin’s Little Sisters of Hoboken have evolved into a quintuplet version of the classic vaudeville double-act.

Think of the sisters as the legendary Weber & Fields, times two and a half. A century ago, Joe Weber and Lew Fields ruled the world of slapstick and satire, parodying the Broadway shows around them. Goggin’s girls have been doing the same thing for the past two decades.

The jokes are new but the format is familiar to anyone who has seen one or more of the half-dozen Nunsense shows before this. How much you enjoy the sisters’ antics probably depends on the level of fandom and/or curiosity you bring to the theater.

While the gags themselves may be freshly written, the act really hasn’t changed that much. The cast is quintessentially nunsense-ical. Each actress works hard to sell the jokes while portraying the character’s established, quirky, identity. Bonnie Lee is the grandmotherly Mother Superior, Deborah Del Mastro the nun who came from a tough Brooklyn ‘hood, Bambi Jones the Gospel and blues-singing second-in-command, Jeanne Tinker the forgetful would-be country star, and Carrie Keskinen the unfulfilled ballerina.

Nunsensations is subtitled The Nunsense Vegas Revue and takes place in a third-rate lounge. The sisters purvey showgirl lines with pink ostrich feathers when not doing solo ballads and belts, or trading jokes in vaudeville style olios. The songs are heads above most, with comical new lyrics.