Since Dan Goggin first put his Little Sisters of Hoboken on a New York stage in Nunsense more than twenty years ago, the clever author has turned that phenomenally successful little musical into a thriving cottage industry.

Follow-up successes — I assume that they were successful in view of the persistence of the franchise —have been Nunsense II —The Second Coming; Nunsense III —Sister Amnesia's Jamboree; and Nuncrackers —the Nunsense Christmas Musical.

For his fifth Nunsense outing, author Goggin has extended the scope of his gentle humor to encompass Jews with the entertaining Meshuggah-Nuns! The Ecumenical Nunsense. A national tour, directed by the author, has just completed an engagement at the comfortable 590 seat Helen Hayes Theatre in Nyack, N.Y.

The Nunsense musicals are basically revues built around a situation which allows the sisters to deliver a series of show business turns while spreading their considerable charm over the theatre audience which has the role of being whatever group the sisters are performing for in the context of each production.

Several of the songs are based on prototypes from Fiddler, but after a couple of notes, they go off on their own melodic course quickly enough to avoid any possibility of lawsuits for copyright infringement. Old, cornball jokes, sometimes suggestive, sometimes politically incorrect and almost always groaners abound, but, if one is not a grump pot, it is hard to resist them in this context. Here's one of the worst —"What do you get if you pick up a Jewish toad?" "You get Schwartz!" (If you didn't get it, read it a couple of more times and you will).

The first act is on the thin side. Especially weak are two comedy sketches. One is Sister Amnesia's satirical magic act. Another pokes fun at Shelley Winters' performance in The Poseidon Adventure. Neither is on topic nor particularly funny. The magic act seemed to get some laughs of recognition and likely provides linkage to earlier Nunsense musicals.

The notion that a major point of commonality between Catholics and Jews is guilt provides the basis for the delightful Fiddler based parody, "Contrition, Contrition." However, it is the myriad old jokes that have to carry us through much of the first act.

Wonder of wonders, the second act is delightful pretty much from start to finish. A new tone is set at the top of the act with a truly lovely duet for Howard and Sister Robert Anne. In "A Love Like This," Howard sings of his love for a woman, while, with the same lyric, Sr. Robert Anne sings of her love for Jesus. We can only wonder why there was no lyricism in the first act. Michael J. Farina and Rachel Cohen are in excellent form here.

Meshuggah-Nuns! then goes from strength to strength. A reprise of the comedic song "Say it in Yiddish" is adorned with a far stronger lyric than it had in the first act. "If I Were a Catholic" continues the gentle ecumenical fun.

Another highlight is when the three sisters, performing as the Saint Andrews Sisters of Hoboken, out boogie the bugle boy with the rousing and rhythmic "Three Shayna Maidels." Carolyn Droscoski (Sister Hubert), Rachel Cohen (Sister Robert Anne) and and Jeanne Tinker (Sister Amnesia) deliver delightful and energetic performances throughout. However, in this number, they are simply super. I hope Dan Goggin composes an "And the Angels Sing" variant for them to sing in the first act.

Quadruple threat (book, music, lyrics and direction) Dan Goggin has obtained appropriately enthusiastic, delightfully entertaining performances from the entire ensemble. Especially strong in the charm department are Michael J. Farina as Howard and Bonnie Lee as the Reverend Mother.

Clearly, Goggin knows his business. A program note announces that the Nunsense shows have grossed over $300 million dollars. In Meshuggah, he has put together a very entertaining show for his franchise with a light, but perfectly adequate little set representing a cruise ship stage, a cast of five, effective arrangements for a four piece on stage band, and added appeal for Jewish audiences.

Though his cultural references are almost exclusively aimed at a senior audience, they could be expanded so as to appeal to younger audiences. His most contemporary reference is to the Village People wherein in lieu of "Macho Man," Howard is celebrated as "Matzo Man." I felt that there was some similarity to South Park's Cook in the lyric ("no one can resist his matzo balls").

With a little hard work to strengthen the first act, Meshuggah-Nuns could be the vehicle to bring the Nunsense franchise back to New York. For now, this touring Nunsense will continue to supply much pleasure to its target audiences.

Meshuggah-Nuns! The Ecumenical Nunsense by Dan Goggin, directed by Dan Goggin; Cast (in order of appearance): Rachel Cohen (Sister Robert Anne)/ Michael J. Farina (Howard/Tevye)/ Carolyn Droscoski (Sister Hubert); Bonnie Lee (Reverend Mother); Jeanne Tinker (Sister Amnesia)

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- Bob Rendell