Addams Family full of thrills and chills for Sigourney Drama

            When you’re an Addams, it’s family first and family last. No bright colors, no being normal, and no secrets in the family. But when everyone’s favorite “bundle of malice” Wednesday Addams falls in love with average teenager Lucas Beineke, their engagement is kept confidential and the household falls into chaos, even more so than usual.

            The Addams Family: A New Musical Comedy, based on America’s favorite gothic family, opened on Broadway in April of 2010, where it enjoyed a successful year and a half run. Though a smash hit on the big stage, the production wasn’t well-known when Sigourney Drama Director, Kirk Magill, made the arrangements last October for his students to perform Addams Family for this year’s musical.

“When you start looking at the talent you have to fulfill roles, you want to try to get as big of a show as you can to make everything work,” Magill said. “Addams Family chose us, in a sense. This fit the kids while being appropriate.”

            Magill had a mix of veteran actors/singers as seniors this year, along with some newer and unfamiliar faces to the stage itself. The Sigourney Drama Dept was coming off one of the biggest years in their existence with their production of Grease, and those returning tried to figure out where they went from there. When Khloe Snakenberg first heard that Addams Family was the selection for their March musical, she was excited for the opportunity but also skeptical about the choice because of how new the musical was.

“Honestly, only a few of us knew any of the music to the play,” Snakenberg said. “When we did Grease last year, we already knew a lot of the songs and seen the movie. With The Addams Family musical, it’s nothing like the movie or the TV shows.”

However, Snakenberg knew from the start exactly who she wanted to audition for. Wednesday Addams plays a prominent role in the musical, including a multitude of singing parts for the senior to enjoy.

“I wanted to be Wednesday mostly because of the songs she has to sing, along with the character that she portrays,” Snakenberg said. “I definitely think I have a similar sense of humor as Wednesday and a lot of my actual personality went into the character. I enjoy how she’s so controlling and impulsive to make decisions just like that.”

Rounding out the main cast for Addams Family is Kaleb Reeves as the lovable (and morbid) patriarch Gomez Addams, Rylie Shettler as the dark Morticia Addams, Joey Glandon as the troublesome Pugsley Addams, Sloane Magill as the kooky Grandma, Brett Striegel as the towering butler Lurch, Alex Gann as Wednesday’s love interest Lucas Beineke, Gabrielle Atwood as Mrs. Beineke and Spencer Magill as Mr. Beineke. One of the franchise’s most iconic characters, the eccentric Uncle Fester, was brought to life by Casey Jarmes, who went so far as to shave his head before dress rehearsals just for the role.

“Honestly, I do Fester’s high-pitched voice and the rest comes naturally,” Jarmes said. “A lot of this character rests in the scripts, which I play off of on the stage. I got to play an over-the-top character, very comedic, just a fun character to play that I enjoyed.”

Please view the March 21 edition of The News-Review for the full story. Photos from the performance are also available on our SmugMug account at https://midamericapublishing.smugmug.com/Sigourney-NewsReview/The-Addams...