3 minute read
The Addams Family
Magnificat’s Performing Arts Department delivered a creepy, kooky, and altogether entertaining production of The Addams Family: A New Musical Comedy in November, featuring lively song and dance numbers and eye-catching sets. Whether audience members remembered the original comic strip, the 1960s television series, the 1990s movies, or the new Netflix series Wednesday, the characters of Gomez, Morticia, Wednesday, Pugsley, Uncle Fester, and Lurch stood the test of time.
“The musical pays homage to the macabre and the mysterious,” Director of Performing Arts Jill Haller said. “It invites us to laugh at our fears and embrace the oddities that make life more interesting and certainly more fun.”
The original show debuted on Broadway in 2010 and tells the love story of a teenaged Wednesday and her beau Lucas Beineke. Their two families meet at an eventful dinner that lays plain their many differences as well as fractures within the two pairs of parents’ marriages. Twenty-two songs complemented by complex choreography bring the story to life over the course of two acts.
Magnificat’s 31-member cast was supported by dozens of students participating in the costume, prop, hair, make-up, and set-building crews. The production included male students from Bay High School, BereaMidpark High School, Elyria Catholic, Midview High School, Northeast Ohio College Prep, Rocky River High School, and St. Ignatius High School, and young Wednesday actresses from Bay Middle School, St. Raphael School, and Troy Intermediate School.
“This production was a captivating rendition of The Addams Family that included huge projected scenery at the back of the stage and more than 20 sterling musical numbers,” wrote Linda Gandee of Cleveland.com. “But the outstanding characteristic was the surprise of so many student singers with such incredibly powerful voices.”
New faculty member Ken Lear served as artistic and music/vocal director, Molly Stanton ’16 was the choreographer, Joe Hnat was technical director, and Mary Cachat Papa ’79 was the costume, hair, and make-up designer. Congratulations to the cast and crew, and best of luck competing in the 2024 Dazzle Awards this spring!
