The Grand County High School production of The Addams Family musical, directed by Maralee Francis, was performed to approving crowds over November 17-19.
The musical, which opened on Broadway in 2010, shows how the macabre Addams family deals with a love affair between daughter Wednesday (here GCHS student Aislyn Whitney, with a lovely pop singing voice) and the son of the more conventional Beineke family (played by Magnus Shannon, Natalie Skowbo and Gavin Vink). Elias Patterson played Gomez, delivering comic and sometimes racy lines with gravitas complimenting Zoe Olsen as Morticia, while Willow Nichols was convincingly tortured as Pugsley. Rhys Johnson brought frenetic energy as Uncle Fester, sincerely serenading the moon in one of the play’s most memorable scenes. Tallulah Maher-Young and Ayden Ceniceros rounded out a wonderful cast as Grandma Addams and Lurch, with Ceniceros towering over the cast in 6-inch platform boots. The chorus, dressed as Addams ancestors throughout history, doubled as stagehands, moving complicated set pieces around the stage to create the interior of the family home (set design by Steve Hazlett and Gery Wakefield).
Time to get excited about next year’s production: a revue of musicals performed on the high school stage planned for February 2023.
