Milwaukee Repertory Theater's holiday musical 'Nuncrackers' makes laughter habitual

Jim Higgins, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
·2 min read

In addition to poverty, chastity and obedience, the nuns in Dan Goggin's universe must take a fourth vow to be funny all the time.

"Nuncrackers" is the umpteenth sequel/spinoff of Goggin's original "Nunsense." But Milwaukee Repertory Theater's new production of "Nuncrackers," which opened Sunday evening, finds the Little Sisters of Hoboken still going strong in song and shtick.

This time, they're recording their first cable-access TV Christmas special: officious Mother Superior Mary Regina (Isabel Quintero); her no-nonsense second-in-command, Sister Mary Hubert (Meka King), who'd like to be in charge; country-singing scatterbrain Sister Mary Paul (Katie Kallaus), who the other sisters sometimes call "Amnesia"; and streetwise Sr. Robert Anne (Ashley Oviedo), who has a comical Brooklyn accent and bounces around in black high-top Converse Chuck Taylors. They're joined by Father Virgil (Seth K. Hale).

Kelley Faulkner, who played Sister Robert Anne in Milwaukee Rep's 2019 production of "Nunsense," directed and choreographed this spirited "Nuncrackers."

There's some excellent crowd work here in the moments before the show begins and especially midshow, when Kallaus roams through the audience delivering Secret Santa gifts. The traditional habit and wimple that set nuns apart also make them irresistibly fascinating in public. Goggin's musicals both celebrate and gently lampoon pre-Vatican II Catholicism and the women who kept it going.

In addition to Kallaus' free-ranging humor, my favorite moments in the show include "In the Convent," a stupendous appeal for vocations that morphs into a Village People-style dance number; and "The Three Kings," where Oviedo, King and Kallaus turn the three wise men into wisenheimers. Goggin is fiendishly clever in how he echoes and incorporates bits of real Christmas music and lyrics in his comic songs.

If you go

Milwaukee Repertory Theater performs "Nuncrackers" through Jan. 7 at the Stackner Cabaret, 108 E. Wells St. For tickets, visit milwaukeerep.com or call (414) 224-9490.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee Rep's holiday musical 'Nuncrackers' has fun with nuns