The Drama Department opened this fall season with The Addams Family, a popular musical about the lives of an eccentric, gothic family. The showtimes for The Addams Family were October 23rd-25th at seven p.m. and October 25th at two p.m. in the SHS auditorium.
The musical follows Wednesday, the 18 year-old daughter of Morticia and Gomez Addams, who falls in love with Lucas Beineke, a young man who is the exact opposite of what the family stands for. Wednesday struggles to remain true to her lineage as well as her relationship and the audience watches as the family addresses their issues in the peculiar Addams family fashion.
Dmitri Fortier, junior who plays Gomez Addams, enjoys acting as a character well-known by the audience.
“It’s great doing a show that’s popular,” Fortier said. “People know the Addams family, so that kind of brings a whole new vibe to not only the audience, but also how we’re putting on this show.”
The cast faced challenges with the fast-paced, high-energy musical.
“Everything is mentally big and funny and full of energy, and that’s hard to keep up for an hour and a half,” said Iris Treul, senior who plays Morticia Addams. “I think it’s been a challenge for all of those, but also very gratifying.”
Treul had the opportunity to play a character which was different from ones she had played before, in both personality and appearance.
“I’ve played a lot of really bubbly characters in the past and a lot of really, like, supportive, happy characters,” Treul said. “Morticia is happy, but she doesn’t show it in the same way other characters do.”
Gomez and Morticia have many scenes together throughout The Addams Family, including both dancing and singing numbers. One scene in particular is a tango, taking place in the second act.
“It’s a big moment in our relationship because [Morticia and Gomez] are very ceremonial,” Treul said. “They like to dance together.”
Amanda Rossman, head choreographer and dance teacher, took various factors into account when creating the choreography. She looked at the time period, theme, background of the characters, and wide range of the actors’ skill levels and ages.
“A lot of it is inspired by movements from the 1960s and 1950s, when the original television show was,” Rossman said. “Also, because the characters are spooky, there’s some influence there. Then, the family claims to have Spanish heritage, so we have some Spanish influenced dances as well.”
One unique challenge Rossman faced was the diversity in characters’ personalities and roles.
“Some of [the characters are] alive and some of them are ghosts or spirits,” Rossman said. “That’s an interesting challenge too, because I feel in some ways they should move differently.”
The musical differs considerably compared to past musicals at SHS, such as The Prom and Alice by Heart.
“The Prom was a much more modern feel and had scenes that took place in prom, so I was trying to get that type of feel as well as the classic musical theater jazz dance because of the Broadway type characters,” Rossman said. “They came and stemmed from really different styles, all three of them.”
The pit orchestra also did extensive preparation for the show. The pit is comprised of students playing violin, cello, trumpet, flute, saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet, drum set, and auxiliary percussion, with professionals covering trombone, trumpet, various wind instruments, and bass and electric guitar.
“I love Addams Family as a musical because it has lots of Latin flair, and it’s fun,” said Kyle Amati, pit orchestra director and band teacher.
Kane Hayes, junior and pit drum set player, found The Addams Family to be the most difficult musical he’d ever played in.
“It’s a lot of changing tempos and changing styles and all that, and it’s a lot of music that I’ve never heard before,” said Hayes. “The drum set part is also the majority of the auxiliary percussion, so my part is filled with glockenspiel, bongos.”
The tech department also put a lot of work into making the show come to life. The Addams Family is a dark and moody show, making the lighting and set design key.
“The entire set, which is a big old house, moves,” said Tarek Shimko, senior and deck captain for tech. “And it’s horrifying because I have to move it and it weighs like 800 pounds,”
Set design is not the only challenge of tech. Those in tech also support the actors themselves and work to make everything run smoothly.
“Running the show and tech week [are challenges], because it’s just havoc. You have to be able to do anything on the fly in like two seconds,” Shimko said.
As the show develops and gets closer to completion, it’s gratifying for tech members to watch as their hard work comes together.
“It’s really nice to see the set come to life,” Shimko said.
Following the winter plays, the next musical Shorewood will be putting on is Chicago, which will be brought to the stage this spring season.
“This is the first show I’ve ever done where I genuinely [didn’t] want it to end,” Treul said. “I seriously love this show so much. It’s so funny and heartwarming.”