Local News
Cindy Williams performing in 'Nunsense Boulevard'
Marc Valero | Highlands Today
Published: November 29, 2012
AVON PARK - Cindy Williams played a young woman with big dreams with a cast of funny characters in the hit TV comedy series "Laverne and Shirley."Published: November 29, 2012
That was 30 years ago, but Williams is still in the habit of making people laugh, this time playing a nun.
Williams will be appearing in the musical comedy "Nunset Boulevard," 7:30 p.m., Saturday, in South Florida State College's Theatre for the Performing Arts.
Highlands Today spoke to Williams by telephone as she traveled to a performance near Fort Walton Beach in the Panhandle.
Before "Laverne & Shirley," Williams was in the George Lucas movie "American Graffiti" in 1973 and had a reoccurring guest role on the TV series "Happy Days."
The "Happy Days" pilot episode had been filmed two years before "American Graffiti" was released, she said. When "American Graffiti" became a big hit, the TV executives had renewed interest in the show, created by Garry Marshall.
"Laverne and Shirley," also created by Marshall, aired 1976-'83, was one of several spinoff series from "Happy Days."
"They were great; lots of fun," Williams said of the shows, which were set in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
"It touched a beautiful nerve in America and the world as far as nostalgia and gentler times," she said.
In "Nunset Boulevard," Williams plays Mother Superior of the Little Sisters of Hoboken, N.J. The nuns are thrilled when they think they've been asked to perform at the famous Hollywood Bowl, only to arrive and find they've actually been booked at the Hollywood Bowl-a-Rama, a bowling center.
The sisters have to contend with announcements from the bowling alley public address system as well as the activity on the lanes, which is not seen but occasionally heard.
Then they get word about auditions for a movie about the life of Dolores Hart, the famous movie star who became a nun.
It's a fun-packed show with a lot of audience participation, Williams said.
The show features many songs, are you a singing nun?
"What you can laughingly refer to as singing, yes," Williams replied, noting that her fellow cast members have fabulous voices.
The show was written and is directed by Dan Goggin, the creator and writer of the "Nunsense" franchise.
Speaking from his Fort Lauderdale home, Goggin said he started in 1985 with "Nunsense," which ran for 10 years in New York City. Now there are seven shows in the series.
You don't have to be Catholic to enjoy any of the shows, which have nothing to do with religion, he said. Each show is completely self-contained so you will know what is going on even if you haven't seen any of the other shows.
Tickets for "Nunset Boulevard" range in price from $34 to $41 and can be purchased online or at the SFSC Box Office, (863) 784-7178.
SFSC Box Office hours are 11:30 p.m.-2:30 p.m., Monday-Friday and is located in the front of the SFSC Theatre for the Performing Arts, 600 West College Drive, Avon Park.
mvalero@highlandstoday.com (863) 386-5826