Addams Family
ANOTHER “Normal” NIGHT, ANOTHER SHOW!
In the famously macabre Addams Family, “normal” doesn’t exist! And closing night of The Addams Family Young@Part at the Electric Theater was not a typical show night. With 39 performers ages 12 to 18 in the cast, the theater was packed with fans, family and friends, and the fun continued behind the Green Room for another 20 minute love fest as “Meet and Greet” was carried on in the warmth of a November night. Warmth in November? This is St George, where we love our Fall weather and our Theater.
ENCORE is a youth theater group success story that appeared last year when a trio of supermoms decided to challenge their kids by creating performance opportunities beyond the youth norm. While most of the theater world in 2020 was shut down, they managed to mount The Lion King, followed by a stunning Les Miserables. Suddenly they had a name and sponsors and more shows, and workshops featuring professional performers as mentors.
The Addams Family Young@Part edition of the Broadway show is especially tailor-made for youth actors, running approximately 70 minutes without intermission. This was a superior production, snagging the talents of Angie and Aaron Naylor as Directors, Cathy Ford, Music Director and Jaidyn Harris Oram, Choreography, with Jenna Rae as Youth Assistant. Of course many more names deserve attention in the production staff for a production like this to be of such high quality.
What stood out to me was the maturity of the voices overall. These are KIDS, with developing voices, yet carrying their parts strongly and securely. Except for size, you’d scarcely think of them as children.
After an introduction to Addams family values (When You’re An Addams), we discover that Gomez and Morticia’s goth daughter Wednesday has grown up and fallen in love (Pulled) with a sweet young man from a respectable, normal family. Now the two families must meet! The results (Full Disclosure and Crazier Than You) suggest that “normal” may not always be what you think!
Reese Wheeler delivers an acrobatic and vocally mature Gomez, with Tralee Jacobs as his darlingly dark Morticia. Reese Cummings as Wednesday and Mack Lawrence as little brother Pugsley magnify the family idiosyncrasies in their hilariously destructive relationship. Uncle Fester (Trey Lawrence) for all his weirdness, seems almost more normal in his determination to champion Love, and finally gets to finish his song (on the third try?) It is he who seems to rally and lead the many Ancestors (well-costumed by Tonya Christensen) in supporting roles. Joseph Ford draws instant attention as the seven-and-a-half-foot-tall Lurch! Jack Pearson admirably plays the father of Lucas Beineke, Wednesday’s suitor (Ammon Johanson), and Britnee Rodgers is an unrestrained force as his mother Alice, bringing the two families to common ground.
This show does credit to all involved, but what seems to shine through is the sense of FUN that has bonded the kids to each other and their staff, that this is a Fun and Safe place to be. This is what the theater experience should be. On that note, I’m reminded that my daughter met her now-husband in the cast of her first show! And I have seen several couples meet and marry after sharing a stage together. It’s a fine way to get to know “normal.”
Paul Nickels
