By Diane Speer

It’s got up tempo tunes, it’s got singing nuns a little on the wacky side and it’s got lots of Catholic humor, so it must be “Nunsense.” Toss in some fringed cowboy boots, a guitar-strumming priest and yee haw, it morphs into “Nunsense Jamboree,” Thunder Bay Theatre’s latest show and the third installment in the ever popular “Nunsense” franchise.

TBT’s core company takes on the guise of four nuns and two priests, with accompanist Bunny Lyon on the side. Together they make it all happen on another artfully designed set. In the hands of technical director Mark Exline, the country jamboree-inspired set sports faux wood, simulated giant lassos, mock wagon wheels, swinging saloon doors and even bling on the black curtains.

Emily Senkowsky, Christina Lewis, Brenna Murray and Bridget Anderson each are adorable and exude personality plus in the familiar roles of Sister Mary Amnesia, Sister Robert Anne, Sister Mary Leo and Sister Mary Wilhelm.

Actor Corey Keller starts the show off as Father P.G. Turner, who enthusiastically bounds onto the stage to make the opening spiel to the audience. He’s anticipating a part in the nuns’ traveling country-western show to promote Sister Mary Amnesia’s new album, but unfortunately for him, he meets with disappointment. Instead of performing on stage like expected, humorously he’s relegated to – as his name implies – turning pages for the accompanist.

Travis Welch plays Father Virgil Trott, the singing priest who joins in on many of the songs. There’s not a sub-par voice in the group as they easily handle the 24 songs featured in “Nunsense Jamboree,” even if they don’t always sound convincingly country.

While most of the songs come with clever lyrics and pleasant, upbeat melodies, a few are particularly entertaining, like “We Miss You, Patsy Cline,” where the titles of 43 hits by this country singing legend are strung together into a new song. Father Trott puts a bell on the floor that he dings with his foot every time a new Patsy Cline title is introduced in the song.

Some of the others tunes take on some odd-ball subject matter, like the TV Guide and drive-through cemetery services. As expected with a “Nunsense” production, there’s also a liberal sprinkling of cornball nun jokes, an example being: What do you call a sleepwalking nun? Answer: a “roaming” Catholic.

Director Jeffrey Mindock, along with the rest of his talented production staff, continues to put up solid, entertaining shows during which it’s obvious attention has been paid to all the important details, including the costumes (by Dane Hansen) and the lighting/sound design (by Colin Marshall and Exline).

All in all, it’s a feel good production performed by a perky and very talented bunch that winds up being two-thirds a music/comedy jamboree and one-third a play with a plot about marketing Sister Mary Amnesia’s new album and getting her on her way to Nashville.

Mindock chose to make the show a bit interactive too, with the characters holding both a mock auction and a giveaway of special “tokens” such as a glow-in-the dark rosary and a peal-and-stick St. Joseph prayer card that pull the audience into the action. Sometimes, however, it doesn’t pay to catch a dress rehearsal rather than a regular performance, because then there are only a few people in the audience, making me a more likely candidate to get pulled into said action, which did happen Thursday, though it all was in good fun and I now happily have an autographed photo of myself with the cast taken on stage to hang on my bulletin board here at the office.