DEKALB, IL, August 29, 2023 – The family has been described as kooky, spooky and ooky, and opening September 14, 2023, Stage Coach Players (SCP) will be producing the musical comedy, The Addams Family for two weekends at Stage Coach Theatre. With a book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice and music and lyrics from Andrew Lippa, The Addams Family is a comedy that embraces the wackiness in every family.
“The Addams Family makes fun of the “normal “family, said director Jeff Hall (Sweeney Todd). “And I think in its own odd way we all can identify with being a little weird. So, even though the family is an extreme example of being strange, I think we can all identify with them and find a little bit of ourselves in these characters.”
Abi Mogge is Vocal Music Director and Pit Director, Judy O’Connor (The Producers), The Addams Family is based on characters created by American cartoonist Charles Addams. They were featured as single-panel gag cartoons in The New Yorker. The characters have also been popularized in several television series and films over the years.
The original story of the musical finds Wednesday Addams has grown up and fallen in love with a sweet, smart – normal young man, named Lucas Beineke. And when she confides in her dad, Gomez, and begs him not to tell her mother Morticia, Gomez is forced to do something he has never done before: Keep a secret from his wife.
And to make matters worse, Wednesday has invited Lucas and his parents to their home for dinner. In one fateful, hilarious night, secrets are disclosed, relationships are tested, and the Addams family must face up to the one horrible thing they’ve managed to avoid for generations: change.
The cast of The Addams Family includes Grant Milam (All Shook Up) as Gomez, Kaitlin Jacobson (Hairspray) as Morticia; Piper Schiola-Williams (The Crucible) as Wednesday; Jackson Nielsen (The Producers) as Uncle Fester; Riley Belick (All Shook Up) as Lucas; Aljuwan Smith (Bright Star) as Mal Beineke; Caroline Menzer (Mary Poppins) as Alice Beineke; Riley Powers (Something Rotten) as Grandma; and Tessa Spengler is making her SCP debut as Pugsley.
The cast is rounded out with Celine Bennetts, Lhito Camson, Jill Danklefsen, Mike Groark, Kelly Hart, David Kuhn, Sarah Lehan, Brooke Montavon, Skylar Montavon, Patrick Murphy, Kasey Pennington, Angel Radloff, Andrew Russo, Rachel Schneider, Stewie Simons, Andy Small, and Erin Steele.
The Addams family have always fascinated audiences. Whether it was the early cartoons, the original television show from the 1960’s, the films from the 1990’s or even the current reboot Wednesday, people have enjoyed the weirdness of the iconic characters. “In almost every adaptation of this families’ life, we see a different story,” Schiola-Williams (Wednesday) said. She continued, “In this musical is different in a way that it follows another story audiences have never seen before.”
And with The Addams Family musical, Jacobson (Morticia) stated, “It’s such a unique show with lovable characters,” and continued, “it has a lot of darkness to it which I also think draws people in. Her favorite song from the show is “Move Toward The Darkness”. She called it a beautiful song about embracing the darkness because without it, there wouldn’t be light.
The musical is of course a comedy and will be fun for audiences. Scott Montavon, technical advisor for The Addams Family, offered that, “The sibling relationship between Pugsley and Wednesday is always funny to me. Who hasn’t briefly considered torturing an obnoxious sibling.”
Brooke Montavon, who plays one of the Addams’ ancestors, said “The Addams Family has something for everyone – hilarious family hijinks, a fun and exciting soundtrack, and a cast of creepy (yet charming) characters.”
The Addams Family was nominated for two 2010 Tony Awards including for Best Original Score. It also was nominated for eight Drama Desk Awards including Nathan Lane for Outstanding Actor in a Musical. If you are interested in listening to the music from the original production, the Original Cast recording can be found on Spotify or on YouTube.
Performances for The Addams Family are September 14 – 16, 2023 and September 21 – 23, 2023, with a curtain time of 7:30 p.m. along with Sunday matinees on September 17 and September 24, 2023, with a curtain time of 2:00. Tickets are $20 each or $18 for seniors and children aged 13 and under. Tickets are currently on sale through the box office phone at 815-758-1940. To purchase tickets, visit the online website at www.stagecoachplayers.com. You can also call the SCP box office at 815-758-1940. The box office will open Sunday, September 10, 2023.
Thank you for being understanding as SCP navigates COVID-19 guidelines. For this production, masks are suggested but not required. If the state of Illinois guidelines change, our guidelines will change also. Thank you for helping us keep our patrons, cast and crew safe.