Nunset Boulevard: The Nunsense Hollywood Bowl Show

The sixth sequel to Dan Goggin's 1985 off-Broadway hit musical comedy Nunsense, Nunset Boulevard finds the five Little Sisters of Hoboken (played by Deborah Del Mastro, Bambi Jones, Bonnie Lee, Jeanne Tinker, and Stephanie Wahl) in Los Angeles under the mistaken assumption they've been invited to sing at the Hollywood Bowl. The stage set, however, makes clear how wrong they were, since they're actually at the Hollywood Bowl-A-Rama, a bowling alley with a cabaret lounge. Of course, the show must go on, and a big part of the story involves their attempts to simply deal with their surroundings and circumstances (such as singing while a tournament is happening on the other side of a door). Except for one sketch with a mild double-entendre, the nuns serve up wholesome fare, including a bit of doo-wop, power ballads, rap, Andrews Sisters–like harmony, and plenty of musical theater sentimentality. The characters are as sharply defined as ever (with Sister Amnesia getting most of the laughs), and a fun subplot concerns a nearby casting session for an actress to play Dolores Hart (the real-life movie star who became a nun) in a new film. DVD extras include a bonus track titled “A Letter From Mother Dolores Hart.” Presented in Dolby 2.0, this solidly entertaining entry in the beloved long-running series is recommended. (T. Keogh)