Almost a century.
That’s how long the Addams family has been around — 87 years, to be exact. For almost a century, the morbid family has captured hearts and fascinations on the movie screen, Netflix adaptations and their original form in print. This year, the family made its way to the auditorium stage for the fine arts department’s hauntingly-stunning musical: “The Addams Family.”
Based on the 1930s cartoons in “The New Yorker,” the musical follows the gothic family hosting a dinner for a normal family from Ohio on the request of Wednesday (senior Lucy Ward), due to her love for the family’s son, Lucas (junior Zach Carvajal). The story unravels into a series of increasingly bizarre storylines: Wednesday’s father, Gomez (senior Keane Nair) must keep the secret of his daughter’s engagement from his wife (junior Elyse Brown), Lucas’ parents marriage is failing and Uncle Fester (junior Caleb Weinkauf) has fallen in love with the moon.
With such a large cast of leading roles, I was wary walking into the auditorium. Surely, I thought, there will be some characters who fade to the background.
This thought could not have been further from the truth. The actors knocked it out of the park — Nair was charmingly buffoonish, Weinkauf’s absurdity kept me on my toes and Brown’s flair for dramatic moments was hilarious. Even the side characters were masters of emotion, such as senior David Park’s portrayal of the zombie, Lurch.
As a rom-com fanatic, I could not get enough of Wednesday and Lucas. Though Morticia and Gomez’s dynamic never failed to make me laugh, I was captivated as I watched the two children fall in love. I have no doubt Ward and Carvajal’s performance of “Crazier Than You” will replay in my head for the coming weeks.
While the acting was phenomenal, it was the technical aspects that really blew me away. Every member of the ensemble was painted gray, which allowed the rest of the cast to stand out and provided a sense of unity to the different costumes. When the spotlights cast the characters in shadows while they were in the audience, I felt shivers down my spine.
The one thing I wish I had more of was closure — trying to complete a dozen different storylines made them feel rushed, and I wanted to slow down some of the final moments to see each character just a little longer.
This musical proves why “The Addams Family” has been through so many renditions. Full of big dance numbers, beautiful costumes and characters larger than life, “The Addams Family” brings a taste of Broadway to the school.
