Christmas comes early as Metro Theatre presents Dan Goggin’s Nuncrackers, until November 14th. The frivolous, festive sequel to Nunsense, seen last spring on the Metro stage, brings back the Little Sisters of Hoboken.
In Nuncrackers, we find our beloved Sisters in the basement of Mount Saint Helen’s Convent School, as they prepare to record their first ever public-access Christmas special. The need to pre-record and allow time for editing, explains away the early start to the holiday season, when in fact Metro’s beloved Traditional British Panto, Sleeping Beauty will fill the stage over Christmas.
The show-within-a-show Christmas special – which hardly goes as planned – features carols, new holiday tunes, a humorous, befuddled attempt at The Nutcracker, a “Secret Santa” segment and Christmas Sing-Along both with the audience interaction, the return of (puppet) Sister Mary Annette and a spot-on parody of Julia Child making a holiday fruitcake.
Dan Goggin’s music and lyrics swing from sentimental ballads (Christmas Box, Jesus was Born In Brooklyn) to comical songs and parodies (Twelve Days Before Christmas, In The Convent), paired with the requisite dance numbers, from returning Choreographer Shelley Stewart Hunt.
Three sisters also return from Nunsense, Mary Cleaver as Sister Robert Anne, a street-smart Brooklyn native, Paula Higgins as Sister Mary Hubert, Sister of the Novices, and returning as Reverend Mother, Sister Mary Regina played by Jennifer Suratos, who also directs the production. All three perfectly project the comfort of being at home in these roles. Joining the the trio is Keri Adams taking over the part of Sister Mary Paul, known as Sister Amnesia due to having lost her memory for most of the previous production. Adams, having played the part over 14 years easily steps in to the groove.
Also along for the ride, and co-host of the special, Father Virgil is played by Vincent Keats, who also serves as Dance and Fight Captain. Showing his versatility with the warmhearted Christmas Box number contrasting his wild “Julia Child” cooking segment. Virgil’s sister, Sister Mary Leo, the novice ballerina nun planned to star in the specials’ Nutcracker segment, but sprains her ankle and spends the entire show off-stage, ‘in hospital’. Behind-the-scenes of the special, Metro’s Assistant Stage Manager Jaeden Walton steps out into the lights wielding a video recorder to ‘broadcast’ the public-access view to the audience.
Rounding out the creative team, Director of Nunsense, Carlina Dykstra returns as music director, leading a 4-piece band with Christopher Qiu, Cat Demello, and Sophie Han filling the theatre with rich, live sound.
Just as lightning doesn’t strike twice, sequels often have a hard time replicating the magic of the original, Nuncrackers is no exception as Nunsense set a high bar. Goggin trades some of the novelty and humour of the original for holiday sentimentality and unnecessary tropes but, this divine casts blesses the audience with their superb stage presence to create a lovely start to the festive theatre season.
Nuncrackers puts the Holy into the Holidays until November 14, 2026 at Metro Theatre, 1370 Marine Drive SW. Visit metrotheatre.com for show details and tickets, including post-show talk back with the cast on October 30 and November 8.