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They sing. They dance. They wear habits.

These are the kind of nuns you want if your cruise ship is battered by storms and the entire cruising population is seasick. The kind who will entertain the ill passengers with the only other healthy person on the ship, a Jewish actor starring in "Fiddler on the Roof."

Catholic nuns, singing and dancing with a young Jewish man?

That's the premise behind the Riverfront Playhouse's most recent Nunsense musical, the "Meshuggah-Nuns!"

"They're on a cruise ship, there's the Jewish angle with a lot of new jokes," said Joe Cullis, the play's director.

"The ship's flipping over. There are giant squids attacking. It's very, very funny. Redding seems to love the Nunsense plays."

The play opens Friday and runs weekends through Oct. 18. Evening performances on Friday, Saturday and Sunday begin at 7:30 p.m., while Sunday matinees start at 2 p.m. Cost to attend is $20 for regular shows, $25 for opening and closing nights and $15 for matinees.

It isn't just Redding that loves the comedies, Cullis enjoys directing them as well.

"I would rather do a comedy," said Cullis, who directed two of the other Nunsense plays and has worked on more than 100 total for Riverfront since joining the community theater in 1981.

However, he might have liked a little more time to prepare for this one.

"We just choreographed the last dance number on Wednesday," said Cullis, noting that it was just over a week before opening day. "We're doing it on a short six-week period, usually you get eight weeks."

Concert pianist Jon Narducci will provide the music.

The hard work of preparing a play in a shortened time frame doesn't seem to bother the actors.

"I love to sing. I love to act," said Tammy Jones, who reprises her role as Sister Mary Hubert, mistress of the novices. "This is a great way to blend everything I like to do."

Jones' character is second to Sister Mary Regina, played by Kathryn Kirk.

"I always want to be No. 1," Jones said of her character.

Josselyn Carter plays Sister Mary Paul and Melissa Gulden is Sister Robert Ann. Brian Bissetti, 25, plays Howard Liszt, the Jewish actor who helps the sisters boost morale among the passengers.

"It's fun being the token male and the token Jew in this all-Catholic cast," said Bissetti, who has been performing since he was child living in the Bay Area. "I'm all alone in a wash, a sea of estrogen."

Humor doesn't just make its way into the musical, it also abounds during rehearsals.

While singing one of the many songs, three of the sisters slowed and looked at one another.

They giggled and tried to finish the song.

"I couldn't remember the words," Jones said after the piece.

"If your volume drops, they know you goofed up," Cullis said. "So keep the volume up no matter what."

During the next piece, the words, while not exactly the same from all the actors, were loud and clear.