NUNSENSE II, THE SECOND COMING
Candlelight Dinner Playhouse
Goggin hews religiously to Nunsense’s successful formula: gentle spoofing of Catholic stereotypes, off-color jokes (“What has balls and makes all the nuns scream?–Bingo!”), a trick bingo game, a pastiche score that combines feel-good anthems, vaudeville novelty numbers, a sing-along, three nun chorus lines, and a gospel finale, plus a comic bit with a gigantic book (The Catholic Guide to Gift Giving succeeds Nunsense’s controversial Cooking With the B.V.M.). Then there’s the topsy-turvy fun of lines like “Never send a man to do a nun’s job,” the sisters’ parlor game “Pin the Braid on Sinead,” and a “Nunsearch” talent hunt open to real nuns with an itch to perform.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
THE QUEEN OF BINGO
at the Buckingham Room of the Congress Hotel
Deepening the small talk are Queen’s often moving monologues, in which Sis and Babe confess the secret sorrows that bingo helps them forget. They’re the last things you’d expect from plays like Shear Madness or Nunsense, but they do warm this play considerably. They also fuel two lively, natural, and winning performances. As Sis, Decker mixes Chicago spunk and sassiness with a growing concern for Babe’s unhinged behavior. Hannon–an actress who can make everything around her feel real as heartbreak–perfectly conveys Babe’s miseries and redemptive hopefulness. Patrick Carton is the parish priest who blesses the gambling and mans the concession stand, merrily working the crowd.
