Morbid and madcap all at once, the Pacific Conservatory Theatre (PCPA)’s latest musical endeavor is a masterpiece of the macabre. Based on cartoonist Charles Addams’ classic characters (probably best known for the ’60s TV series, or the ’90s films to later generations), The Addams Family follows the perilous plights and pleasures of Gomez and Morticia Addams (played by George Walker and Melinda Parrett, respectively) and their two children, Wednesday (Jisel Soleil Ayon) and Pugsley (Stephanie Roman).
But the immediate family members aren’t the only souls inhabiting the Addams’ mansion, located in the middle of a ghost-infested graveyard. Uncle Fester (Tyler Matthew Campbell), Grandma (Jacqueline Hildebrand), and the family’s trusted butler, Lurch (Jesse Baxter) get their fair share of the spotlight. Oh, and Cousin Itt (Bobby Kiner) of course! How could I possibly forget about everyone’s favorite human hairball?
What these idiosyncratic individuals have in common—besides blood, which they certainly cherish on a vampiric level—is their mutual adoration of all things grim, gruesome, and ghastly. The show’s overall vibe feels like a cross between Full House and The Nightmare Before Christmas—life lessons are learned in true sitcom fashion, but the death lessons are far more fun.
Pugsley isn’t too pleased to hear about Wednesday’s new boyfriend, Lucas Beineke (Tiago Santos), as the young masochist fears his dear sister will no longer have enough free time to torture him. Meanwhile, Wednesday is dreading dinnertime, as she’s invited Lucas and his parents, Mal and Alice Beineke (Andrew Philpot and Jennie Greenberry, respectively), to meet her family for the first time.
“They’re normal people/ Not like you/ Not like me,” Wednesday sings, during “One Normal Night,” to her eccentric (to put it lightly) parents. “One normal night/ That’s all I want/ That’s all I need from you.”
Little does Wednesday know that just a few feet outside the mansion, Lucas is singing the same lyrics to his uptight (however “normal”) parents, out of fear they will embarrass him. But even amid all the family drama, the lovable Uncle Fester practically steals the show on a number of nonsequitur occasions—but none more so than during a lavish dance sequence exploring his romantic fascination with the moon (yes, the moon).
For the show’s director, Erik Stein, one fundamental question The Addams Family raises is, “What is it to be pulled out of your comfort zone?”
“We live in our own bubble and surround ourselves with like minds,” Stein said in press materials. “Often we avoid the other and demonize or fear those that are not on our team.
“[The Addams Family] gives us insight into two very different families,” he continued, “who, at first, think they have nothing in common and want nothing to do with each other, and in the end, find commonality and become a larger and better family.”
Arts Editor Caleb Wiseblood wants to be part of the family. Contact him at caddams—err, I mean, cwiseblood@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jul 25 – Aug 1, 2019.
