Bonnie Lee, Bambi Jones Lead Cast Of Cherry Lane's NUNSENSE, Previews 6/13

The Cherry Lane Theatre announces casting for the 25th anniversary revival of the worldwide smash-hit musical NUNSENSE by Dan Goggin

Show returns in June for its silver anniversary at the Cherry Lane Theatre (38 Commerce Street)
where it made its Off-Broadway debut in 1985!!

The five actresses who will play the beloved Little Sisters of Hoboken in the 25th anniversary revival of Dan Goggin's legendary musical NUNSENSE this summer have been announced, according to Angelina Fiordellisi, artistic director of Cherry Lane Theatre (38 Commerce St.), where the show is being presented Off-Broadway, starting previews June 13 prior to its official press opening on June 20.

Bonnie Lee will portray Reverend Mother Mary Regina, Bambi Jones plays Sister Mary Hubert, Maria Montana portrays Sister Robert Anne, Stephanie Wahl is Sister Mary Leo, and Jeanne Tinker is Sister Mary Amnesia in NUNSENSE, which returns to the Cherry Lane Theatre, having had its Off-Broadway debut there in 1985. In the past quarter century, NUNSENSE has become one of the most produced musicals of all time, with productions staged in every corner of the world.

An instant hit when Dan Goggin wrote, directed and produced NUNSENSE 25 years ago, the musical follows the riotous escapades of five nuns from the Little Sisters of Hoboken who realize that one of their own, Sister Julia, Child of God, has accidentally poisoned to death 52 fellow nuns in the convent while the quintet was off playing Bingo. The show's musical numbers include "Nunsense is Habit-Forming," "So You Want to be a Nun," "The Dying Nun Ballet," "Baking with the BVM" and "Holier Than Thou." Dan Goggin once again takes the helm as director.

NUNSENSE has been a vehicle for an endless array of actresses through the years, including such well-known actresses as Rue McClanahan, Edie Adams, Phyllis Diller, Sally Struthers, Joanne Worley, Kaye Ballard, Georgia Engel and Darlene Love. Cherry Lane's very own Angelina Fiodellisi was, herself, a member of the cast of NUNSENSE in 1987!

Since its debut as a cabaret show in Greenwich Village and its transfer Off-Broadway to the Cherry Lane Theatre in 1985, the musical NUNSENSE has been presented the world over with 8,000 productions (and counting), and has grossed more than $500 million. The musical's many honors include four Outer Critics Circle Awards including Best Musical.

Dan Goggin came to New York from Alma, Michigan to study as a singer. He sang in the Broadway production of "Luther" starring Albert Finney. He began writing while appearing in a comic folk-duo called "The Saxons". In 1986 Goggin received the Outer Critics' Circle Awards given to "Nunsense" for Best Musical, Best Book, and Best Music. "Nunsense," in addition to running 10 years in New York City, has now run in thousands of theatres around the world. There have been over 30,000 "nuns" in the "Nunsense" family. Goggin followed "Nunsense" with the off Broadway show "Balancing Act," which ran Off-Broadway at the West Side Theatre in NYC. Subsequent productions of "Nunsense" included "Nunsense 2," "Nunsense Jamboree," "Nunsense A-Men!," "Nuncrackers," "Meshuggah-Nuns," and "Nunsensations." "Nunsense" and "Nunsense 2: The Second Coming," both starring Rue McClanahan have been videotaped for the A&E Television Network and also aired on PBS. Both shows won "Telly Awards." "Nunsense 3: The Jamboree" toured the U.S. starring Georgia Engel and has been recorded for television at the Grand Ole Opry starring Vicki Lawrence. "The Nuncrackers" television special playing the PBS network starring Rue McClanahan with guest star John Ritter, received an Emmy nomination for Best Musical Score.

The Cherry Lane Theatre revival of NUNSENSE is part of the award-winning Off-Broadway theatre company's "Heritage Series," which brings back to the Cherry Lane 179-seat mainstage gems from the theatre's rich 86-year history. As New York's longest, continuously-running Off-Broadway theater, Cherry Lane Theatre is known as "the birthplace of Off-Broadway," having helped to define American drama by fostering theater that is daring and relevant for the past 86 years.

Cherry Lane Theatre is dedicated to sustaining a community of playwrights and supporting seasoned and emerging theater artists that work together to reveal the social consciousness of our ever-changing world. Guided by the legacy of iconoclastic writers whose work has been at home at The Cherry Lane since the 1920s - O'Neill, Saroyan, Auden, Albee, Odets, Orton, Mamet, Lanford Wilson and many more - along with such distinctive actors as Ruby Dee, James Earl Jones, Colleen Dewhurst, Cicely Tyson, Frank Langella, Tyne Daly, Estelle Parsons, Dennis Quaid and others who have performed on its stage, Artistic Director Angelina Fiordellisi set out to revive the theatre's spirit and preserve its history, providing opportunities for bold new voices today when she founded a resident non-profit theatre company in 1997. She also undertook a major renovation of the building (once part of a farm in 19th century New York) and its stages, including the creation of the 60-seat Studio Theatre and the celebrated Cherry Lane Mentor Project in 1998.

The final production of the Mentor Project Series 12th annual season - the new play PATERNITY by Winter Miller, mentored and directed by award-winning playwright Craig Lucas - is running now through May 29 in the Studio Theatre at Cherry Lane Theatre.

Scheduled through July 18, NUNSENSE will perform Tuesdays at 7 pm, Wednesdays through Fridays at 8 pm, Saturdays at 3 and 8 pm and Sundays at 3 pm. Tickets are $50/$45 and can be reserved by calling Telecharge at 212 239 6200 or by visiting www.cherrylanetheatre.org.

Photo Credit: BWW-Staff