The Months of Prep for “The Addams Family” Pays Off
Ba-da-da-dum (snap snap)
You know the tune. It’s hard to hear the title of the musical without breaking out into its infamously catchy theme song. And after seeing the musical twice this past week, I’m sure I’ll never forget it.
For months leading up to just last Thursday, the advanced musical theater class planned, prepped, and put their hearts and souls into this year’s chosen musical production: the Tony-nominated and Drama Desk Award-winning musical “The Addams Family”.
The show has it all — darkness, death, and unspeakable sorrow (according to Renee Austin’s Morticia Addams) but more importantly, it has a cast full of Overlake’s best performers. In a show truly made for triple-threats, there needed to be pure talent to pull off this musical; thankfully, Overlake has a surplus of students who are up to the challenge.
With outstanding vocals and well-choreographed dance numbers (with a gorgeous pointe sequence from sophomore Aya Sugai-Munson), there was one last step to pulling off “The Addams Family” — strong actors. And this cast had just that.
Beginning with the hilarious, dynamic Gomez Addams, senior Sam Kehoe was the center of attention whenever he was onstage. Kehoe’s shining stage presence brought his character to life and kept the audience laughing throughout the whole show with his spot-on comedic timing. Renee Austin’s condescending, slightly scary Morticia Addams made me forget how kind she is when she isn’t wearing that long, black dress.
Tara Mehra stood out as Wednesday Addams, the ever-changing, angsty, in-love teen who is so hard to play. However, play her Mehra did, with a uniquely genuine portrayal of Wednesday. Her performance was more than commendable and left me wishing for a sequel to the musical. Similarly, Steven Abbott played the ever-so normal (until the end of Act II, that is) boyfriend of Wednesday, Lucas Beineke with memorable charm.
One of the most striking and hilarious character portrayals came from the other two Beinekes, Mal and Alice, played by Michael Simpson and Phoebe Wall. Simpson played the tough, no-nonsense father role that’s been seen before, but he did so with a confidence that brought his character from the depths of indifference to the spirited man he is at the end of the show. Wall, on the other hand, brought a complete liveliness to the stage every time she was on it, whether reciting a happy poem or singing about her misery, that made her one of the most exciting actors to be watching.
Other credits must be given to Dana Halabe with her portrayal of Pugsley Addams, the hilarious and probably psychopathic little brother of Wednesday, whom she played with real heart (making the audience “aw” when her face dropped at the ignoration Pugsley received from his sister). Another to senior Ben Kehrli, who kept the audience consistently entertained with his lively depiction of Fester, the slightly crazy, moon-obsessed brother of Gomez. His versatile acting skills earned him the lead role in last year’s “The Music Man” — in a completely different type of role, which truly demonstrates his adaptable talent.
Beyond just the principal roles, the ensemble made everyone smile with each of their fun, ghostly costumes (a cheerleader, a flapper, a ballerina, and many more) and with their periodic dance breaks and dramatic additions to scenes.
There was no boring moment in “The Addams Family” — just a show filled to the brim with daring one-liners (you all know the one) and back-to-back earworms. Additionally, the main setpieces (Bob and Amy, as they were called) gave life to the mansion in which the story takes place, being moved and twirled around to set each scene.
“The Addams Family” was guaranteed to leave each viewer giddy and with a warm kind of feeling inside, because not only did the show make us laugh, but it made us cry a bit too — there were sneaky lessons within the story about what it means to be different and “mov[ing] towards the darkness” (as Theodore Howard sung about in the musical’s finale). The compilation of exciting dance breaks, strong actors, and stunning vocals left “The Addams Family” a very hard musical to surpass.
