SCERA theater cast will portray the Addams family in a musical premiering Sept. 12. The musical depicts love’s struggles and the hilarities of living up to “ideals.”
The family debuted in cartoon in 1939, but the issues of love and expectations are timeless.
The director of “The Addams Family,” Shawn Mortensen, expects the show to have mass appeal. “They’re a pop culture classic,” he said. “They’ve raised a huge gap,” he said, saying that the audience of season ticket holders, who are u
sually in their forties to sixties, college-aged students and younger families could all relate to the show.
Patrick Brannelly plays Uncle Fester. He said the musical is “a chance to see something a little different from the shows you’ll see over and over again.”
The story could also relate to people who don’t fit cookie-cutter molds. Morgan Flandro plays Wednesday Addams, the pig-tailed, pallid-faced daughter. “Wednesday is bringing her boyfriend home to meet her parents,” Mortensen explained. “She wants them to be normal, but they all have a hard time figuring out what normal is for them.” Even Wednesday’s boyfriend, Lucas’, family is “totally dysfunctional.”
The musical reflects the Addams family’s classic semi-morbid humor. “They do things that a normal family would do,” Mortensen said. “But the Addams family gets a little dark. It’s just fun.”
This twisted fun represents the musical’s purpose. “It’s an extreme commentary on family life and family interactions. It’s extreme to make the point that everyone’s weird, and it’s OK to be weird.”
Kailey Green, a junior at UVU studying theatre performance, has acted in some shows at the SCERA and is excited for the show.
“I love the Addams Family movie. I think they are incredibly clever and endearing,” she said. “I love that they are this incredibly odd and dark family that is completely functional and incredibly loving.”
Brannelly feels each family’s struggles “show that everyone’s different in their own way, but most important, love triumphs.”
“There’s a message in (the play), but it’s not expressed in any way. By no means is it serious,” Brannelly said. “The Addams family makes it so the others, who are a little more buttoned up and less likely to share their feelings, are given the opportunity to open up.”
Mortensen explained what he hopes people will get from this show. “You can’t always take yourself so seriously,” he said. “The hardest thing is to be understanding of yourself and your faults and weaknesses. You have to laugh at the dumb things you do or the mistakes you make. Life doesn’t have to be so serious. If you mess up, that’s okay.”
The show runs from Sept. 12 to Oct. 4 on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 745 S. State St. in Orem. Doors open at 7:00 p.m. for the 7:30 p.m. shows. Tickets are reserved seating at the price of $12 for adults, $10 for children (3-11) and $10 for seniors (65+). SCERA will provide an American Sign Language interpreter on Thursday, Sept. 18.
