— a review by Margie Doyle —

The cast of “Addams Family” invite you to a dinner party and the GAME — at Orcas Center, Oct. 26-31

“The Addams Family” is a surprisingly old-fashioned, Main-Street America tale that takes “apple pie” messages like:

Never lie to you spouse
Be patient
Loosen up
Live before you die

and then turns those homilies inside-out as the course of young love meets family obstacles.

Opening night saw the cast of this darkly, morbidly funny and eccentric family giving it their all and having a grand time while doing so, aided by ghostly, white-clad “Ancestors, whose Greek- chorus like reactions to the three couples, the dinner and the GAME added a depth to the scenes among the “live” actors.

All the main actors have their shining moments, leaving the audience gobsmacked:

  • Bailey Sunde as Wednesday, whenever she sang sweetly or whimsically with a strong voice
  • Jessica Diamond who starred in “Dead Man’s Cell Phone,” when she transformed herself from a meek milquetoast to a brazen harridan,
  • Gina Da Silva –Villabos as Morticia, a cool dark Ice Queen who still loves her little “vermin” (children)
  • Kevin Hauschild, the innocent who’s fallen for the bad girl, and sings in a sweet tenor of his desire for his own straight folks to “act right”
  • Joey Gonzalez, portraying the philosophical dad on a tightrope between his daughter and his wife, in a talk-singing style reminiscent of Maurice Chevalier,
  • Tom Eversole as the “Mad[ison Avenue] Man” who realizes that kooky, crazy and dark can make life invaluably better

Special fun is had by the supporting cast members:

  • Rick Markov as the speechless Lurch, with perfect timing in his horrible delivery
  • Don Yerly as Fester, whose love song to the Moon, sweetly portrayed by Bella Schermerhorn, is beautifully poignant
  • Leslie Liddle as a grotesque granny who delivers her lines of Addams Family wisdom with timing and spunk
  • And Moose Kinsey as the awful little boy who loves his sister’s tortures and realizes he’s losing her with the most beautiful sustained high note that makes your heart go out to this “fat little kid”

Jim Shaefer-Bauck, musical director, was in his element in formal wear, and his management of opening night numbers was masterfully quiet.

And above all, the fun the cast was having, presenting their show, spread to the audience, who sang, snapped their fingers, groaned, sighed and hooted with laughter as the families struggle to welcome young lovers, knowing what family entanglements involve.

As director Sam Pettit noted, “The Addams family – no matter how ghoulish, macabre or dark they seem, at the core are all about family.”

A wonderful Halloween weekend treat, The Addams Family will show again Saturday, Monday and Tuesday (Halloween) nights at 7:30 p.m. and on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m.

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