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The Addams Family Comes Together

Over more than 90 years and countless incarnations — or maybe “reincarnations” is the proper term — the Addams Family has found ways to remain popular and relevant.
 
The first Addams Family cartoon appeared in the New Yorker in February 1932. The original TV series ran from 1964 to 1966, followed by several more TV series, one-off specials, and movies, both live action and animated. Most recently, there have been animated movies released in 2019 and 2021, and the Netflix series Wednesday (which takes place at a boarding school) was released on November 23 of this year.
 
The ghoulish clan’s timelessness is a major reason why The Addams Family was selected as this year’s major Musical Theatre production. The students are all familiar with the characters, director Mrs. Rosalynd Roome ’91 explains.
 
Another reason The Addams Family was picked is that it could be put together under a time crunch. The final production will hit the stage at the McPherson Playhouse in Victoria on February 9-11, so there’s a tight deadline the students and staff are working with.
 
“The Addams Family is a show we know the students will be able to understand and get behind in a short amount of time,” Mrs. Roome says.
 
Everything is going according to schedule, however. Act I is done, and the cast and crew are refining it as they go. Act II will be done soon, giving them time to go through the whole show before the Christmas break. When students return from holidays, they will have a mere four weeks until opening night.
 
Mrs. Roome is listed as director, with Ms. Mandy Bryant as music director, Ms. Annie Marland as choreographer, and Mr. Salvatore Interlandi as producer, although they don’t adhere strictly to those roles.
 
“We all help each other out,” says Mrs. Roome. “It’s not just one person running the show.”
 
The students have a range of experience in musical theatre — Mrs. Roome guesses about 80 percent of them have been involved in productions previously — but they are perfectly suited to The Addams Family regardless, which is another reason the staff selected this show over any others they had in mind.
 
“Once we got to see the students, we knew we had the students to cast it,” Mrs. Roome notes.
 
The cast has more than lived up to expectations.
 
“The students are amazing,” Mrs. Roome says emphatically. “They are working hard. We are super impressed with all the students.”

Tickets will be available on December 22. Visit the MacPherson Playhouse website to purchase.
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