LMT presenting ‘Nunsense II’ this week

MUSICAL TO BE PERFORMED AT MCNALLY COMMUNITY CENTRE

For generations, Lethbridge Musical Theatre has been a vital part of the city’s entertainment scene. This week, after something of a hiatus, it’s back with a tune-filled comedy.

“Nunsense II” was written as a sequel to the hit musical “Nunsense,” and LMT is staging it in recognition of audience response to the original show when they presented it last year.

Its cast and crew are set for three performances, Thursday through Saturday, in the former McNally school.

“It did well the first time,” says Rita Peterson. A longtime director with Playgoers of Lethbridge, she’s enjoyed taking on a new challenge.

“We’ve been working hard for two months.”

Peterson says the five-member cast includes one performer from the previous show — Monica Baczuk — along with a mix of local or newly arrived players. They’re Jan Jelley, Hannah Lawson, Christina Peterson and Stephanie Savage.

The story, she explains, is set just six weeks after the successful fundraiser featured in the previous show. Now the Little Sisters of Hobokenare face a different financial challenge: one of the nuns has won a huge lottery — and a rival order of sisters is trying to claim her.

“Sister Amnesia” can’t really remember her earlier days. But her colleagues in the convent want to keep her — and especially, the money — to run their parochial school.

While they’re dressed alike, Peterson says each of the nuns has a different take on the situation.

“The sisters’ characters are all very different.”

This being a musical, of course, they’re all primed to switch from dialogue to song.

“There’s a lot of music,” Peterson says — some of it quite challenging, including solos, duets, trios and the full ensemble. She’s happy to have recruited longtime Lethbridge musician and conductor Sandy Brunelle as the cast’s vocal coach.

Jillian Bracken is providing the accompaniment.

While the earlier “Nunsense” was staged in the Sterndale Bennett Theatre, Peterson says the prolonged closure of the Yates Centre — still receiving its mid-life upgrade — has forced LMT and other organizations to scramble for somewhere to perform.

The auditorium in the former McNally School, she notes, is similar to the space that the nuns had at their disposal.

Showtime will be 7:30 p.m, at what’s now the McNally Community Centre, east of the Lethbridge Airport. Tickets are available downtown at Casa.

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