‘Addams Family’ comes to life in Middletown
Music and comedy will come together on stage this month as the Performing Arts Academy cast presents “The Addams Family: A New Musical Comedy.”
“I like this show because it’s got a good moral, but it’s a fun show for the kids. We have 31 young actors in it, in grades five through nine, from Madison, Middletown, Monroe, Lebanon, Mason, Carlisle and Franklin,” said Nina Markle, the show’s director.
The show will open Friday with six performances, which will run through Sun., May 15. Performances will be at The Performing Arts Academy in Middletown.
“It’s a story about the ghoulish and the normal people, and through love in the show, happiness is accomplished,” Markle said.
The production will delight audiences with humor, an original story, song and dance, featuring everyone’s favorite Addams Family characters. In the kooky, upside-down world of the Addams Family, a crisis is brewing as their daughter, Wednesday, grows up and falls in love with a “normal” young man, Lucas Beineke, who is from a respectable, Ohio family.
To make matters worse, the romance seems to have turned the gloomy Addams girl into someone who’s cheery, which leaves her family distressed and worried.
As the story unfolds, comic chaos reigns when the Addams Family hosts a dinner for Wednesday’s new boyfriend and his parents so they can become better acquainted.
“Wednesday’s relationship with Lucas causes Morticia and Gomez to realize that they’ve lost the meaning of love in their marriage, so it’s been reborn,” Markle said.
Love prevails and triumphs in the show, she said, and it’s a good lesson for kids and adults, alike.
“This is a fun show, and the kids are having a great time. It shows that even though things look impossible, through love, things can be accomplished and
worked out, and it’s a very positive, lighthearted show,” said Markle. “Audiences are going to enjoy it, and it’s certainly needed at this time in our everyday lives.”
Local actors star in the show, including Johanna Keller, (Germantown Christian School) as Morticia, the matriarch of the Addams clan; Nolan Linberg, (Mother Teresa Catholic School) as Gomez, her devoted husband; Ellie Ott, (Monroe Jr. High) as Wednesday; Elias Vickers, (Ohio Christian Academy) as Pugsley; Aiden Fiers, (Classical Conversations Homeschool) as Uncle Fester; Abbey Decker, (Monroe Elementary) as Grandma, Brock Noble, (Ohio Christian Academy) as Lurch, Elijah Urell, (Edgewood Middle School) as Lucas Beineke; Keegan Linberg, (Mother Teresa Catholic School) as his father, Mal Beineke and Tatum Haupt, (Madison Jr. High) as Alice Beineke.
A band of spirited ancestors from past generations also haunt the scenes. Their singing and dancing, like that of the main characters, is brought to the stage under the direction Mark Norris, the choreographer of the production. The ancestors include Eric Berry, Lila Cape, Leah Capo, Josie Cunningham, Madilyn Dodge, Devon Greenfield, John Hatcher, Mackenzie Heinold, Sarah Hubbard, Ryley Maichle, Riley Nelson, Andrea Ptaszkiewiz, Ava Reeves, Avery Roberson, Lydia Robinson, Aiden Scherrer, Jazmyn Tucker, Abriella Wan, Carly Watts, Olivia Wright and Shiloh Wright.
Rehearsals for the show began in February and were held on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.
“These young actors have realized they have talent they didn’t know they had, they can dance, and they didn’t know they could, and you see a lot more smiles than you did when they first came, because it’s fun, and anytime music is attached, music is just a good medicine,” Markle said.