Meet the Addams, a typical family- except for the zombie butler, torturous daughter, and nutty grandmother. Now that you think about it, the Addams are anything but typical. However, at Liberty High School’s production of “The Addams Family”, you follow this spooky clan as they attempt for “One Normal Night”.

“The Addams Family” is a new musical comedy based off of the original cartoons depicting this ghoulish American family which first hit the stage on Broadway in 2010. The story follows the family on an overnight adventure as the young Wednesday Adams finds love for the first time with a perfectly normal young boy, Lucas Beineke. As their love blossoms, they must find a way to introduce their opposing families to one another, and many ghostly and disastrous events follow.

Throughout Liberty’s take on “The Addams Family”, many aspects brought life and character to this quirky production. From the costumes, to the makeup, to the unique special effects, the technical aspects mirrored the acting from beginning to end.  As the scenes progressed the run crew moved the sets in a fairly unified progression and worked quickly to attend to any issues that arose which grounded the show in its entirety, especially in musical numbers such as “Full Disclosure”, which showcased the casts’ vocal talents as well as the technical precision by the crew.

One aspect of the production that pulled the show forward was the superb acting of the main and supporting characters. Standout performances came from Lauren Bishop (Morticia Addams), and Wil Clancy (Uncle Fester). Lauren Bishop played the sensual and mysterious character well through the use of her body language and vocal range. From the time she had entered a scene until the moment she exited the stage, Bishop provided a range of emotions and a superb sense of comedic timing. Another example of an actor who played off of the audience’s energy in order to portray a highly comedic character is Wil Clancy as Uncle Fester. Breaking the fourth wall and interacting with the audience, Clancy was able to add an interesting dynamic and high energy in his outstanding performance.

Not only did the main and supporting characters add to the production, the ensemble added a very interesting aspect to the overall show as well. The Ancestors made up the ensemble of the production and added an energetic background to every scene in their ghostly costumes and paled faces. These ghostly characters were each assigned a specific time period which were reflected in their acting and reactions to add unique dynamics to each of the scenes they were a part of.

This production had various technical aspects that added memorable facets to the performance, an example of which was the student directed choreography which was professionally executed in the various musical numbers. Other wonderful technical aspects were the detailed costumes and makeup as well as the unique special effects.

Even though Halloween is over, Liberty’s spooky performance of “The Addams Family” is guaranteed to make you laugh.

by McKenna Logie of Franklin