The pilot, which was shot at a former monastery in Union City, New Jersey, features Mary Stout as Reverend Mother Mary Regina, Bambi Jones as Sister Mary Hubert, Tony Award winner Beth Leavel as Sister Robert Anne, Jeanne Tinker as Sister Mary Amnesia, Phyllis Smith as Sister Julia, Tony Award winner Karen Ziemba as Sister Mary Leo, Dee Hoty as Sister Mary Wilhelm, June Gable as Sister Rose Seraphine, Christina Pumariega as Sister Mary Michaela, Christopher Sieber as Father Virgil Manley Trott, Jeff Blumenkrantz as Brother Anthony, Lee Roy Reams as The Saint, Scott Willis as Father Kuligowski, Jim Ferris as Brother Patrick, Melinda Tanner as Sister Brendan, and Grammy Award-winning recording artist Darlene Love as herself.

“When funding for Mt. St. Helen’s School’s music and arts program gets cut, Reverend Mother Mary Regina and the Little Sisters of Hoboken take matters into their own hands,” according to production notes. The series “follows the zany antics of the world’s most famous nuns as they enter ’Hoboken Has Talent,’ a local variety show competition, with their sights set on winning the $100,000 Grand Prize. Having previously staged a fundraising show to help bury fifty-two nuns accidentally poisoned by Sister Julia, Child of God, the Little Sisters of Hoboken officially consider themselves expert entertainers.”

Nunsense started in 1985 as an Off-Broadway novelty about the Little Sisters of Hoboken and their fictional fundraiser to bury their compatriots who went on to their great reward after coming down with food poisoning. The sweet and slightly irreverent musical comedy eventually amassed a 3,672-performance run. Goggin wrote a sequel, Nunsense II, and then another, until he had completed six sequels and three spin-offs, including ones with country, Christmas, and all-male themes.