The cast of the long-awaited “The Addams Family” musical awed students, teachers, and parents in the auditorium with their performance of the plot of their musical on Nov. 8-10, which centered around love. The play ran for around 90 minutes with a fifteen-minute intermission after the first act. 

As the lights dimmed, the low hum of music greeted the audience with the first song, “When You’re an Addams,” describing the unorthodox traditions of the Addams family. All members of the Addams family were dressed in black and white while their cheeks and eyes looked hollow and dark against their bone-white faces. They contrasted with the “regular” humans of the play, who were dressed in shades of yellow that the Addams detested. 

The central storyline was based on the main character, Wednesday Addams, played by Alyssa Lee (12). The central conflict of the play was that Wednesday had fallen in love with a boy named Lucas. Her mother, Morticia Addams, played by Amy Cha (12), and Wednesday’s little sister, Pugsley Addams, played by Grace Lee (10), were greatly against their relationship. Morticia believed that Wednesday was far too young and unique to be in love with a simple boy from Ohio. Meanwhile, Pugsley was scared of losing her bond with her big sister, as beautifully demonstrated with the song, “What If?”

When Wednesday revealed her engagement ring from Lucas to her loving and devoted father, Gomez Addams, he was greatly conflicted on whether he should conceal the engagement from his wife as his daughter requested, or if he should stay true to his promise with Morticia to share everything in their lives. Such extreme devotion was displayed as common in the house of Addams, with activities like Wednesday torturing Pugsley for “fun” being routine. This is especially odd compared to Lucas’s parents, who have such mundane marital issues due to their secrets kept from one another. 

As the play continued and Morticia and Pugsley worked to separate Wednesday and Lucas, secrets were let loose and betrayal struck the hearts of many. Despite such sullen moments, many jokes referring to our SIS community were made from time to time, such as, “Was Pre-Calc right for Mr. Warkentin?”

In the end, both families accepted their differences and strengthened their bonds through the example of Wednesday and Lucas’s willingness to love one another. 

“I thought that since it’s about love and accepting others who aren’t always deemed ‘normal,’ like the song ‘One Normal Night’ states, ‘we have to be normal just for one night,’” Sarah Kim (10), who played an ancestor in the play, said. “At the end we can see that they still got married which shows that you can be yourself and find love, which I think is a beautiful message.”

There were no errors made in the transitions of the background of the scenes, but the sound production at the beginning could have been louder, as some lines were unintelligible. The remainder of the play went smoothly, and the passion and months of hard work of the members were evidently demonstrated.

“They worked together as an ensemble extremely well, and once everyone was in a room and we were able to get started, rehearsals were very productive so I was very pleased with them all,” Iain Cowieson, play director, said. “Just seeing people work together and the reaction of the audience that came to see made it worthwhile.”

After the play ended, the hugs, congratulations, and celebrations the cast members exchanged were evident of the family-like bonds that everyone involved developed outside of the play as well. 

“All of the practices were fun as it allowed us to hang around other actors during weekends and after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays,” Steven Kim (12), Gomez Addams, said. “Since I had  one of the main roles, the amount of songs that came with it made it an exciting part of my Addams family journey.”

This year’s musical has set a high standard for next year’s play to beat.