Church Basement Ladies, brought to us by the FHSU Special Events Committee and Troupe America Inc., is not by a long shot the greatest musical comedy ever written.

Nevertheless, it pleasantly warmed up a cold, gray Sunday afternoon for many people, and Beach/Schmidt Performing Arts Center was nearly full.

Authors Jim Stowell, Jessica Zuehlke and Drew Jansen acknowledge the best-seller "Growing Up Lutheran" by Janet Letnes Martin and Suzann Nelson inspired them. But, albeit unmentioned, the ghost of "Nunsense" hovers over the entire show.

In fact, two of the Lutheran ladies, matriarch Vivian (Jean Liuzzi) and 40-ish Karin (Katherine Proctor), have toured in "Nunsense." And the other two ladies, Signe, Karin's college student daughter (Lisa Bark) and 50-ish Mavis (Karen Pappas) fit the "Nunsense" mold, too.

As in "Nunsense," the action takes place in a single setting, here a well-worn church basement kitchen, and the plot serves only as an excuse for songs, dances and a lot of relatively good, clean fun.

There is one great difference, though. A gent, Pastor Gunderson (David Simmons), spends a lot of time in the church basement kitchen, his "personal sanctuary."

The fun begins in December 1964, as the ladies prepare a feast for a record crowd of 200 people. Among other things, they discuss Norwegian cuisine -- Vivian gives a lesson on preparing lutefisk; they mention their cookbook, "The Joy of Butter," and sing and dance "The Pale Food Polka."

Preparations for a funeral bring the ladies to the kitchen the following February. Despite the sad occasion and repeated faint praise for lasagna sight gags and slapstick rule the scene. Vivian enters wearing Wonder Bread wrappers as boots. When Signe helps her out of them, she hollers, "Careful, it's a new pair."

Mavis, waving a knife, makes the "sanctuary" hot for the pastor. It's even hotter for her, though -- she goes into a hot flash fanning routine that is hilarious in its own right, even though it contains many of the same comic elements as Reverend Mother's "rush" scene in "Nunsense." (Reverend Mother doesn't show as much underwear, though.)

The two scenes of the second act touch lightly upon somewhat more serious issues. Disapproving of the church's Hawaiian Easter Festival, Vivian voices her fear of change in the church and the evils of "The Cities" (Minneapolis-St. Paul).

Signe is dating a Catholic boy, which brings on a long and wildly inaccurate explanation of why Catholic women have to wear kerchiefs on their heads. This got the biggest laugh of the show. Pastor Gunderson dressed as a Hawaiian bunny was an anticlimax.

Three years later, after a good deal of running around in her wedding dress with mascara running down her face, Signe finally marries a good Lutheran man and all ends well. The audience showed sincere appreciation of this delicious confection with standing applause.

* The next special performance is "Jesus Christ Superstar" at 7 p.m. April 20 in Beach/Schmidt. The next event in the Encore Series is another musical comedy, "The Drowsy Chaperone," at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 16, also in Beach/Schmidt.

Ruth Firestone is a supporter of music and theater in Hays. rfiresto@fhsu.edu.