Off the page, onto the stage: It’s ‘The Addams Family/A New Musical’

[froodle]

f you’re not snapping your fingers right now and whistling, you need to check your pulse.

Lincoln High School students will present their own take on the kooky, mysterious and spooky Addams Family starting tonight.

Performances will continue this weekend and also on March 29-31 at the Village Hall Theater on the Walla Walla University campus.

Based on the characters created by cartoonist Charles “Chas” Addams, the quirky Addams Family moved off the printed page in 1964 when the black-and-white television series of that name aired on ABC-TV.

The show ran for 64 episodes before bowing out in 1966, but the two seasons it ran left an indelible mark on pop culture. Especially its finger-snapping opening theme composed by Vic Mizzy.

The bizarre, but beloved, family moved onto Broadway in 2010 as a musical comedy with music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa and the book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice. This will be the version presented by Lincoln students.

Fans of the TV series will need to be prepared for a shift as Wednesday (Kendra Jones) is now 18 years old and in love with Mal Beineke (Ross Branco), a “boringly” normal Ohioan who is accompanied by his equally normal family on a visit to the Addams mansion.

As they rehearsed (which by coincidence has the word “hearse” in it) recently at the school, cast members displayed a lively (as opposed to deadly) sense of humor about their production.






“I love overacting because I know I can’t go too far,” said Pelagia Wauchek, director Riki Wauchek’s daughter, who will do a gender swap to play Gomez Addams, the sauve patriarch of the family. Like many other cast members, she has watched the original television series and was familiar with the big shoes to fill left by actor John Astin, who was the original Gomez.

Another person taking center stage will be Lauryn Batchelor, who will be portraying Gomez’ wife, Morticia, a role she said she didn’t ask for, but was awarded after she auditioned.

How do you play Morticia? “I just kind of imagine I’m the most magnificent woman in the room,” Batchelor said as she prepared to perform “Death is Just Around the Corner,” one of the musical numbers in the play with catchy lyrics such as “One unplanned execution/That’s the kind of end/I can comprehend.”

Yet another central character is Uncle Fester, who will be played by Jackson Clark. The sophomore had to sacrifice for his role, specifically shaving his head to fill the part of the bald-pated, grinning fellow. In the production, he explained, his character has a critical role.

“If I don’t make them (Wednesday and her normal boyfriend, Mal) fall in love, all of the ancestors have to stay on earth for eternity,” he said.

According to the play’s director, Lincoln teacher Wauchek, this is probably the eighth formal production the school students have put on as well as the fourth musical.

Joining in the production are assistant director Etiene Vela, choir director Misha Guderian and choreographer Grace Frizke.