There is a lot to like in this weekend’s Morristown High School production of The Addams Family, which celebrates spring with a dose of Halloween.
The zombie costumes are to die for. Sets are creepy and spooky. The characters, mysterious and kooky. One-liners pepper the script. (“What I lack in depth, I make up for in shallowness!” proclaims Gomez/ Will DeLargy.) The song and dance numbers are colorful.
Some clever stage business unfolds when Uncle Fester (Jacob Gulisano) dances with the moon, then blasts off.
The story depends on Michailia Monfalcone maintaining her morosity as Wednesday, who shocks herself and stuns her family by falling for a “normal” guy named Luke, played by Topher Bashant.
A preview of ‘The Addams Family’ at Morristown Onstage. Video by Chris Nuccio for MorristownGreen.com:
Monfalcone holds up her end, and hijinks ensue with her jealous brother Pugsley (Jules LaMontagne); her peeved mother, Morticia, played by the suitably vampy Nya Federoff (who will alternate shows with Brenna Thornton, who we did not see at this dress rehearsal); her nutty Grandma (Leah Frantz), and Luke’s buttoned-down parents, Mal and Alice (John Mustion III and Julia Bozza).
We would have liked seeing more of Cousin It and Thing… but that’s a generational thing.
‘The Addams Family’ slideshow photos by Katelyn Nagy and Michailia Monfalcone:
A couple of famous alums liked what they saw in previews.
“These kids are perfectly cast,” said Victoria Fanning, now involved in student productions at Fordham University. Fanning starred in Anything Goes at Morristown High last year.
“I want to do this show!” said Kate Croonquist, whose many MHS roles included the lead in Once Upon a Mattress.
She’s a freshman at the Savannah College of Art and Design, where she has performed in a production of Sense and Sensibility.
Other honorable mentions for The Addams Family: Chris Ruiz demonstrates the importance of work/life balance, Lurch-ing through the show on platform boots that Elton John would envy.
And the orchestra, which for the first time in memory has no professional ringers, sounds confident on a batch of tricky Spanish-themed numbers.
Freshman Dante Santaniello gets our Unsung Hero Award. Never mind that he plays 31 percussion- and novelty instruments. We’re impressed he can name them all–right down to the bird warble.
The Addams Family runs this weekend at Morristown High School, 50 Early St. Tickets are $8-$15.
SHOW DATES:
- FRIDAY, MARCH 22 @ 7:00 PM
- SATURDAY, MARCH 23 @ 2:00 PM and 7:00 PM
- SUNDAY, MARCH 24 @ 2:00 PM