WAYNESBORO– They’re kooky…they’re spooky…they are the Addams Family, and they have come to Waynesboro. The WASHS All-School Production Team is performing “The Addams Family: School Edition” musical onstage all weekend, THIS weekend, at the Oyer Auditorium.
The Addams Family was created by cartoonist Charles Addams (1912-1988), for the American journalism magazine, The New Yorker in 1938 where it ran as a comic strip feature until 1964.
Since then, The Addams Family have become a cultural staple in American society beginning with a hit television series in 1964 as well as several feature films. The most recent version of the iconic family of fright is the Netflix series, “Wednesday,” created by Tim Burton and starring Jenna Ortega.
In 2010, “The Addams Family” made its way to the theatrical stage with a musical based on a book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, and featuring music and lyrics written by Andrew Lippa. It was this 26-year-old feature that inspired the performance being featured this weekend.
The show opens with a marvelous dance piece featuring the entire ensemble cast of Addam’s, both living and dead (or undead as it were). We then learn that young Wednesday Addams played by Eve Dickey, has found love and was proposed to by her football star boyfriend, Lucas Beinke, played by Dominic Kipe. Needless to say, the union of the two lovers has thrown their respective families into a whirlwind of emotion, and chaos ensues.
The matriarch and patriarch of the Addam’s clan, Morticia (Alyssa Vulgamott) and Gomez (Marcello Dimino) face the challenges of honesty and loyalty in their marriage for the first time, when Wednesday confides in Gomez, making him promise to keep the news from her mother in fear she may sabotage the union. The chemistry between Vulgamott and Dimino as the haunting couple radiated from the stage in amazing performances given by both.
Pugsley, played by Ariabella Dimino, is conflicted by the fact that his sister has found someone new and must face the reality that his usual tortures at the hands of his sibling may be coming to an end.
Then there are the differences between the families themselves. Lucas’ mother and father, Alice (Chloe Shacreaw) and Mal (Evan Forberger) have been invited to dinner at the Addam’s mansion, which is a far cry from their suburban home in Ohio. Shacreaw’s song and dance performance at the end of the first act was one of the best of the evening.
The plot thickens when the truth comes out and the families must accept their unique differences or risk the happiness of their children. Can Wednesday’s and Lucas’ love survive?
Also featured in the cast were Elizabeth Callaway as Grandma Addams, Sam Neff as Lurch, and no one can forget the zany Uncle Fester played by Will Yost. In all, the cast featured more than 40 characters with live music from the pit orchestra led by Heather Cermak.
The stage show had a life of its own. From the amazing props that were moved on and off stage, the spectacular lighting effects, amazing costumes and make-up, to the elaborate dance routines all created and executed under the watchful eye of director Emily Dickey, producer Claire Martin, choreographer Erin Adams (no relation ha-ha), and the stage management of Alexis Bowie.
The Addams Family: School Edition will be performed live on stage on Saturday, March 14, at 7 p.m. and Sunday, March 15 at 2 p.m. Event memorabilia may be purchased in the lobby outside the auditorium where t-shirts, sweatshirts, posters, coffee cups and water bottles are available.
