podunklander
12-17-2007, 10:18 PM
Our very own Corfidian *Jenney* :biggrin: stars in the hilarious Castle Craig Players’ production of “Nuncrackers”. Review by Podunklander
Have you ever been to a performance that leaves you wanting to return again and again? [Nahhhhhhh, certainly not anyone here ;)] Well such was the case Friday night at the home of the Castle Craig Players in Meriden, Connecticut. From the time the houselights dimmed and until the curtains closed this wonderful ensemble cast, including and especially the nuns of the Order of the Little Sisters of Hoboken, blessed us with the most hilarious, heartfelt and zany production of, “Nuncrackers” (a comical/musical spoof-like of the Nutcracker meets Nunsense).
Accompanying me to this blessed event was none other than...one of my cousins! On our way to the theater, we picked up a dinner to share (this was a ‘bring your own’, with cabaret-style seating). Though I wanted Chinese food, I felt that the smell would be too overpowering to our fellow diners. Instead, we opted for a smorgasbord of chilled selections from our local Stop & Shop grocery store. I hadn’t realized just how much we had bought until we spread it out over ½ of the table.
Another theater-goer, armed with a cooler - filled with what goodies I could only imagine, passed by and commented on our delectable arrangement. As she joked about joining us I asked what her dinner was to be, and what was in the cooler (wine, of course). She said that they were having Chinese food :eek: delivered (I almost wanted to trade her a stuffed grape leaf for an eggroll :rolleyes: ....NAH).
I couldn’t even catch a glimpse of what anyone else was eating -our awesome table/seating being right in front of the stage!!! Okay, so this also meant that I had to behave and this was hardly an issue since my cousin and I (good Catholic girls :rolleyes: ) were among the few who didn’t bring a cooler!!
But I should have known better...nuns have a habit of picking on me :biggrin:. We were introduced to the nuns of the Order of the Little Sisters of Hoboken as they circulated among our tables, talking to us and handing out tokens to a few select souls. The stern, quieter more reserved of the Sisters, Sister Mary Hubert (a.k.a. our Jenney :biggrin: ) placed a token in front of me. Sister Mary Paul (a.k.a.”Amnesia”) told us that later on in the show, these tokens will be exchanged for a XMas gift.
And of course since this Sister was nicknamed, “Amnesia” I thought that she might forget to give me a present. Meanwhile the students of Mount Saint Helens school blessed us with song and dance. Under the tutelage of the Sisters, these children are a well-behaved (relatively) and talented lot!
The Sisters returned to intermingle with the audience, and we exchanged our tokens for a gift. Since Sister Hubert had given me a token, I needn’t have worried that Sister Amnesia was going to forget about me. When Sister Amnesia handed me my gift, I could not read what was written on it because I wasn’t wearing my bifocals :cool: !!! The gift was pretty :)...a sheet of self-stick labels embossed with ...the Ten Commandments!! I didn’t have to recite them though and assured her that I’ve not broken any. I was grateful to her that the Commandments were on paper labels and not on say, a clay tablet. Otherwise I might have broken them. [and fortunately, playing Gordon Lightfoot music and possibly disturbing the peace is not one of the 10 Commandments ;) )
The final scene of this wonderful production was brought to fruition by the serious and reserved Sister Hubert. Now mind you that she sang and danced along and shone with the other Sisters -as they donned a variety of “elegant” head wear over their habits; crowns and goose feathers and even Santa hats. And the ‘wearing of many hats’ is the only time when the character of Sister Hubert and the real life Jenney were recognizable to me (the ‘nun’ part, I won’t comment on!).
Sister Amnesia had surprised us with a catchy and unforgettable Country Music song entitled, “Santa Ain’t Coming to Our House”. Father Virgil had us in tears when singing, “The Christmas Box”, but the stage belonged to Sister Hubert during the finale of this production. It is here where the Sister showed us what she’s made of and presented the ending to the story line in this play. The stage brightened and came to larger than life while Sister Hubert was dancing and singing the soulful Gospel song, “It’s Better to Give”.
A great ending to a great show!!! My cousin put it best when describing the singer and the song, “That song was made for her!”. With, “It’s Better to Give”, we were given the honor of hearing an uplifting, joyful voice that made the audience want to shout, “Hallelujah!” (Which many did), and jump up on the stage and start dancing around!! But my cousin and I hadn’t drank that night so we didn’t have the nerve for the latter.
:clap: Congratulations to Jenney :) for contributing such a talent along with this fine cast in this enjoyable production :clap:!!! Hope to seeya in this show next Christmas!!!
Have you ever been to a performance that leaves you wanting to return again and again? [Nahhhhhhh, certainly not anyone here ;)] Well such was the case Friday night at the home of the Castle Craig Players in Meriden, Connecticut. From the time the houselights dimmed and until the curtains closed this wonderful ensemble cast, including and especially the nuns of the Order of the Little Sisters of Hoboken, blessed us with the most hilarious, heartfelt and zany production of, “Nuncrackers” (a comical/musical spoof-like of the Nutcracker meets Nunsense).
Accompanying me to this blessed event was none other than...one of my cousins! On our way to the theater, we picked up a dinner to share (this was a ‘bring your own’, with cabaret-style seating). Though I wanted Chinese food, I felt that the smell would be too overpowering to our fellow diners. Instead, we opted for a smorgasbord of chilled selections from our local Stop & Shop grocery store. I hadn’t realized just how much we had bought until we spread it out over ½ of the table.
Another theater-goer, armed with a cooler - filled with what goodies I could only imagine, passed by and commented on our delectable arrangement. As she joked about joining us I asked what her dinner was to be, and what was in the cooler (wine, of course). She said that they were having Chinese food :eek: delivered (I almost wanted to trade her a stuffed grape leaf for an eggroll :rolleyes: ....NAH).
I couldn’t even catch a glimpse of what anyone else was eating -our awesome table/seating being right in front of the stage!!! Okay, so this also meant that I had to behave and this was hardly an issue since my cousin and I (good Catholic girls :rolleyes: ) were among the few who didn’t bring a cooler!!
But I should have known better...nuns have a habit of picking on me :biggrin:. We were introduced to the nuns of the Order of the Little Sisters of Hoboken as they circulated among our tables, talking to us and handing out tokens to a few select souls. The stern, quieter more reserved of the Sisters, Sister Mary Hubert (a.k.a. our Jenney :biggrin: ) placed a token in front of me. Sister Mary Paul (a.k.a.”Amnesia”) told us that later on in the show, these tokens will be exchanged for a XMas gift.
And of course since this Sister was nicknamed, “Amnesia” I thought that she might forget to give me a present. Meanwhile the students of Mount Saint Helens school blessed us with song and dance. Under the tutelage of the Sisters, these children are a well-behaved (relatively) and talented lot!
The Sisters returned to intermingle with the audience, and we exchanged our tokens for a gift. Since Sister Hubert had given me a token, I needn’t have worried that Sister Amnesia was going to forget about me. When Sister Amnesia handed me my gift, I could not read what was written on it because I wasn’t wearing my bifocals :cool: !!! The gift was pretty :)...a sheet of self-stick labels embossed with ...the Ten Commandments!! I didn’t have to recite them though and assured her that I’ve not broken any. I was grateful to her that the Commandments were on paper labels and not on say, a clay tablet. Otherwise I might have broken them. [and fortunately, playing Gordon Lightfoot music and possibly disturbing the peace is not one of the 10 Commandments ;) )
The final scene of this wonderful production was brought to fruition by the serious and reserved Sister Hubert. Now mind you that she sang and danced along and shone with the other Sisters -as they donned a variety of “elegant” head wear over their habits; crowns and goose feathers and even Santa hats. And the ‘wearing of many hats’ is the only time when the character of Sister Hubert and the real life Jenney were recognizable to me (the ‘nun’ part, I won’t comment on!).
Sister Amnesia had surprised us with a catchy and unforgettable Country Music song entitled, “Santa Ain’t Coming to Our House”. Father Virgil had us in tears when singing, “The Christmas Box”, but the stage belonged to Sister Hubert during the finale of this production. It is here where the Sister showed us what she’s made of and presented the ending to the story line in this play. The stage brightened and came to larger than life while Sister Hubert was dancing and singing the soulful Gospel song, “It’s Better to Give”.
A great ending to a great show!!! My cousin put it best when describing the singer and the song, “That song was made for her!”. With, “It’s Better to Give”, we were given the honor of hearing an uplifting, joyful voice that made the audience want to shout, “Hallelujah!” (Which many did), and jump up on the stage and start dancing around!! But my cousin and I hadn’t drank that night so we didn’t have the nerve for the latter.
:clap: Congratulations to Jenney :) for contributing such a talent along with this fine cast in this enjoyable production :clap:!!! Hope to seeya in this show next Christmas!!!