SPRING MILLS — Many folks remember the quirky mid-1960’s Television sitcom “The Addams Family,” whose finger-snapping theme song proclaimed “They’re creepy and they’re kooky, mysterious and spooky. They’re all together ooky – The Addams family.”
John Astin and Carolyn Jones portrayed Gomez and Morticia Addams, the patriarch and matriarch of a ghoulish American family with an affinity for all things macabre. The show ran for two years, and was popular, as its viewers enjoyed its odd and often morbidly comedic humor.
A dose of that morbid fun will come to Penns Valley High School as the Penns Valley Thespians present “The Addams Family” musical at the Penns Valley High School auditorium on March 1 and 2, at 7:30 p.m. both nights.
The musical is directed by Penns Valley Band Director Darris DeRemer. Phil Stattel will direct a pit orchestra, composed of student and adult musicians from the community, and Nicole Goodman is the show’s choreographer and costumer. Ryan Carty supervises set design and construction. The show contains 19 songs, some with accompanying dances.
DeRemer noted that the cast includes 14 seniors, as well as numerous younger members. Rehearsals began in early January, hampered somewhat by several snow days.
The Addams Family originated as single-panel gag cartoons created by Charles Addams. Although numerous film and television adaptations of Addams’ cartoons exist, the musical is the first stage show based on the characters. After a tryout in Chicago in 2009, the musical opened on Broadway in April 2010, featuring Nathan Lane as Gomez and Bebe Neuwirth as Morticia. The production closed on Dec. 31, 2011. A revised national tour of North America began in September 2011.
The production has won numerous awards including the Drama League Award and Drama Desk Award, as well as the Chicago production winning the Jeff Award, and has been nominated for several others.
In the weird world of the Addams Family, to be sad is to be happy, to feel pain is to feel joy and death and suffering are the stuff of their dreams. Nonetheless, this quirky family still has to deal with many of the same challenges faced by any other family, and the spookiest nightmare faced by every family creates the focus of the musical — the Addams kids are growing up.
The Addams have lived by their unique values for hundreds of years and Gomez (Branston Peese) and Morticia (Sophia McQuaide), the patriarch and matriarch of the clan, would be quite happy to continue living that way.
Their dark, morbid, beloved daughter Wednesday (Lydia Boeckel), however, is now an 18-year-old young woman who is ready for a life of her own. She has fallen in love with Lucas Beineke (Michael Statham), a sweet, smart boy from a normal, respectable Ohio family — the most un-Addams sounding person one could be. And to make matters worse, she has invited the Beinekes to their home for dinner.
In one fateful, hilarious night, secrets are disclosed, relationships are tested and the Addams family must face the one horrible thing they’ve managed to avoid for generations: change.
Tickets for the musical are available online from www.showtix4u.com and will also be available at the door. Cost is $8 for adults and $5 for students (K – 12th grade). Funds raised from ticket sales go into the musical production budget to fund future shows.
