Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
Shelton High School sophomore Becca Byykkonen, center, plays Uncle Fester.
Shelton High School sophomore Kaleb Robinson-Gage plays percussion in the orchestra pit.
After members of the Shelton High School Drama Club considered possible plays to stage this spring, they whittled their choices to "Beetlejuice" or "The Addams Family Musical."
This illustrates their current mood for black comedy, said Wendy Burr, adviser to the group and an arts and CTE instructor at the school.
Burr directs the school's production of "The Addams Family Musical" at 6:30 p.m. Friday, and 2:30 and 6:30 p.m. Saturday in the school's Performing Arts Center. Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for students. The doors open 30 minutes before each show.
The theater students at North Mason High School staged the same show last year. Fans of macabre humor have laughed at the family's morbid antics starting in the early 1930s with the comics by Charles Addams in The New Yorker magazine, followed by the TV comedy from 1964-1966, three live-action movies and two animated movies. Addams' daughter Wednesday is being played by Wendy Ortega in a Netflix series of the same name.
Wednesday fuels the wackiness in the musical when she falls in love with a smart young man from a respectable family, who she invites to dinner at the Addams home. Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice wrote the script, and Andrew Lippa wrote the music and lyrics.
The songs include "When You're an Addams," "Wednesday's Growing Up," "One Normal Night" and "The Moon and Me." When the show premiered on Broadway in 2010, Nathan Lane played Gomez and Bebe Neuwirth portrayed Morticia.
Sophomore Jack Parker is Gomez Addams and senior León Reynolds is Morticia Addams in Shelton High School's production. Maddie Smith is Grandma, Becca Byykkonen is Uncle Fester, Oakley Poland is Pugsley and Emma Siemssen is Wednesday. Sio Nuxoll is Lurch.
More than 40 students and teachers are involved in the production. Mike Carlin led the set construction, and construction students Logan Beal, Juan Ninez Rico and Logan Anderson built the curved staircase.
The Addams' colorful mansion is "our most epic set," Burr said. For the first time in about eight years, the theater's orchestra pit has been opened for musicians for the production, she said.
IF YOU GO:
WHO: Shelton High School students
WHAT: "The Addams Family Musical"
WHEN: 6:30 p.m. Friday, and 2:30 and 6:30 p.m. Saturday
WHERE: Shelton High School Performing Arts Center
ADMISSION: $10 for adults, $5 for students
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