Whipped Cheese

Tom Eubanks gave me the script, score, and reference audio CD for Nuncrackers in early June of 2005. I read through the script twice and perused the score, then spent an afternoon listening to the CD.

My first impression of the music was that it was really cheesy, and that for some reason, Dan Goggins had an unfortunate habit of changing key after almost every verse. The opening number "Nunsense Time" grated on my nerves so much that I had to skip to the next track after only about 30 seconds. Track two, "Santa's Little Teapot" wasn't much better, although I'm a sucker for kids singing in holiday shows, so I endured the whole track.

Sister Mary Anette's "Twelve Days Prior to Christmas" was a fun, funny, marching number, and for once, I thought that I might be able to do something with at least ONE of the numbers in the show. Next up was Father Virgil's "Christmas Box" which again bugged me. Perhaps it was the timbre of the performer's voice, but it seemed flat and uninteresting... another ho-hum.

It wasn't until Sister Robert Anne's "Jesus Was Born in Brooklyn" that it all clicked in gear in my head. The theatricality of that song was what gave me hope for the show. I knew almost immediately how to stage it for maximum impact. The mock Andrews Sisters styled "We Three Kings" added to my love of the show, and Sister Mary Hubert's gospel inspired "Better to Give Than Receive" cemented my desire to knock this one out of the park.

So, the show itself presented itself as a heaping helping of whipped cheese, but I was starting to get a good sense of how to make it work.

I found and purchased a DVD of Nuncrackers, featuring Rue McLanahan and John Ritter. I reveled in the thought of John Ritter as Father Virgil, but alas, he was merely a guest storyteller for the Nutcracker sequence. It at least got me thinking about how that role could be done well with the right performer. The DVD itself matched the script pretty well, with the exception that a few songs were reassigned to account for Rue's less than great singing voice. What really helped was to get a visual sense of how the thing flowed, and what was necessary in the script versus what was a nice to have.

When I'd seen Nunsense in the late 1980's the company had a man playing the Mother Superior, and I'd like to see if those casting options are available for this production as well. Already, in fact, two men have approached me wanting to audition for the role, and a superb actress has expressed interest as well. Ideally, I'd like as large an audition pool as possible so that, if possible, I can either double cast or use understudies. I've seen other productions held at the mercy of a single performer who either flames out or becomes ill. If I make this option clear from the beginning, perhaps it will soften the perception that a performer would "lose" some of their performance dates. I believe it will strengthen the cast.

So those were my initial impressions after first reviewing the show. Now, I just needed to break the scenes down a bit and slice and dice the technical elements so that our support team can rise to the occasion.


- Sean