The Addams Family musical is coming to West Carrollton this spring in April. The show follows Wednesday Addams as she invites her boyfriend, Lucas Beinke, and his family to dinner at her place and deals with being in love while trying to tell her family. While this is happening Pugsly is worried about losing his sister to her new boyfriend and goes to grandma for advice. Morticia and Gomez go through a shaky part of their relationship as her new boyfriend splits them and so does Lucas’s parents, Mal and Alice, the other way around. Fester also plays a part in Wednesday’s love as he gets the Addams Family ancestors to help Wednesday get with Lucas to be able to return to the afterlife. The show takes place in the Addams family house in Central Park, New York. That’s all you get though, if you wanna see what happens you have to watch the show. 

The cast includes Bryson Barnes as Gomez, Kennedy Kirby as Morticia, Caitlin Smith as Wednesday, Nathan Lewallen as Fester, Alahna Ramsby as Pugsly, Peyton Gant as Grandma, and Diego Leal as Lurch. It also has freshmen Amarion McGowan as Lucas Beinkle, Wednesday’s boyfriend, Aidan West as Mal Beinkle and Franchesca Gates as Alice Beinkle. The ensemble is a colorful but very much dead collection of Addam’s ancestors including a Flight Attendant, Gambler, Cavewoman, Soldier, Flapper, Conquistador, Saloon Girl, Courtesan, Bride, and Puritan. These are also only a few as some ensemble members will get the chance to create their own ancestor character to show just how far back the Addams family tree goes. Of course, all the ensemble members are ghosts as they are supposed to be the past Addams family members but, that doesn’t mean they aren’t still part of the family. As the show says itself “Come every member of our clan…living…dead…”. 

The show is being directed by Brian Coleman with the Pit being directed by Ms. Buckosky. Ms. Campbell helps out with music. Abbie Trittschuh is the choreographer. There are a handful of WC alumni helping out. Rob Mcnally is the technical manager, Jordan Jergens is the prop manager and Chelley Seibert is the stage manager. They could still use help,  a link on the school video news is available for students to sign up as stage crew, makeup, ushers and more. 

When asked about the upcoming musical, director Brian Coleman said, “The Addams Family has great music and tons of really energetic dancing. I can’t wait for those rehearsals to get started!” Which is true, each song has a lot of varied rhythms and beats which makes each one unique. Mr. Coleman went on to say “The coordination of so many moving parts is always a challenge. The Addams Family is a big show with lots of moving set pieces, backdrops, and special effects that must come together at just the right moment. All of the musicals we do are written for professional actors and musicians, so they are not easy”. He also took this time to mention all the students, both on stage backstage and in the pit, credit for what they do. “You really have to give all of our students a lot of credit for being so successful in our performances!” 

It’s important to also get their opinion on the same subjects since they are a big part of the musical. I got to ask the same questions to Aiden West, playing Mal Beinke, and Lucy Byrd who is in the ensemble. When asked about the most difficult part of the musical Aiden said this “The hardest part was probably the audition. After that it’s just dealing with how Mr. Coleman wants it” while Lucy said “I think the most difficult part will be the dancing. We have a lot of newer people this year so dance rehearsals are gonna be a bit more difficult.” When asked about what they were most excited about, Aiden said, “The music I’ll be singing.”  Lucy was excited about friends. “I’m most excited to get back into the groove of things with a big show. Around the time of the musical is when all of my friends want to hang out more and we hang out more as a large group.” For what they were both most nervous about they had about the same answer. Aiden was mostly nervous about his lines for his character and memorizing them, especially in the bigger scenes. Lucy is nervous about “being part of the featured ensemble even if it won’t be that much pressure.”

The set and everything for the musical is huge and it has a lot of moving parts, like what Coleman mentioned, which makes it harder than in previous years for people and sets to come together. As Coleman said, “The Addams Family is a big show with lots of moving set pieces, backdrops, and special effects that must come together at just the right moment.” With the many moving pieces, it’ll be interesting to see everything come together to put on a show.