Hospital decision good for Jindal, less for others
January 15, 2015
Angel Manuel Merlos
January 15, 2015
They’re scary, and they’re kooky
Mysterious and spooky
All together ooky.
And they are coming to Vandebilt Catholic High’s theatre program.
Students are tackling the Broadway version of “The Addams Family” this week at the school’s Kolb Center.
Performances are scheduled for Thursday and Friday. Showtimes Saturday are 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Tickets are $12 for adults and $8 for students. They are available at the school’s front office or, at each performance, at the door.
Based on the long-running TV comedy, the musical includes all of the Addams: Wednesday, Pugsley, Morticia, Lurch, Grandmama and, of course, Uncle Fester.
“For the opening number, the curtain opens and the Addams are all in place and the singing starts,” Tami Ledet, Vandebilt’s theatre director, said. “You have ancestors, trees and the silhouette of the family singing. It is a twist.”
Those familiar with the TV version of “The Addams Family” will notice small differences. For instance, the TV show depicted Uncle Fester as Morticia’s uncle; in the musical, he’s Gomez’s brother. It’s unclear who is older.
Expect a bigger-than-expected age gap, too, between Wednesday and Pugsley, the younger brother she loves to torture. The dark, cynical older sister is now 18; he is a boy.
The story centers on Wednesday, who is in love with a sweet, smart young man from a respectable family – every Addams’ family member’s worst nightmare.
Gomez is the first to learn of Lucas Beineke, the love interest. He reluctantly agrees, although he’s never kept a secret from his wife, not to tell Morticia.
Secrets unravel when the Addams host a dinner for Wednesday’s “normal” beau and his parents.
After seeing the musical, Ledet wanted to do it with her theater students.
“The kids are excited about it and are having a lot more fun with it now that they are doing it,” she said. “They get to be a character, not just a person, because the Addams’ are so weird.”
Vandebilt’s choir director, Sarah Todd, was tasked with helping cast the show.
“This show was easy to cast,” Ledet said. “(The students) are not shy. They feed off the show like any good actor would.”
Freshman Madelyn Rodrigue was cast to play Wednesday. She began singing when she was 3, and began attending the South Louisiana School of Arts at 8. She mimicked Shirley Temple and the “Annie” cast as a child.
En route to a pep rally, Rodrigue learned she’d been tapped for the role. “I was overjoyed. I never expected that to happen.”
A fan of the TV show and “Addams Family” movies, Rodrigue has had to temper her bubbly, optimistic personality.
“It is difficult, but you have to channel your inner Wednesday and put that forward,” she said, noting that she often refers to Christina Ricci’s movie performance of the character.
“[Ricci] had a dead span face and showed no emotion, so I try to mimic that,” Rodrigue reflected.
Eighth grader Lucas Presten-bach plays Pugsley.
“I was actually auditioning for Lucas (Wednesday’s love interest) because my name is Lucas,” he said. “It was kind of expected that I was going to play Pugsley. There aren’t many guys in theatre, and I am the youngest male cast member.”
Pugsley is struggling with his sister’s maturing.
“At the beginning, he is depressed because Wednesday is growing up and isn’t going to torture him anymore,” he said. “I literally have a solo called, ‘What If.’ He sings about Wednesday never inflicting pain on me anymore.”
Senior Joey Yesso auditioned for the role of Uncle Fester and nailed it.
“I love the character so much that I focused all of my energy on Fester,” he said. “He is that weird uncle we all have.”
Fortunately, Fester is a role Yesso knows well from TV and film.
“I have been doing plays since the fourth grade. All the plays I have done, the characters were always vague. I have never actually done a real character,” he said. “I played one of the sons in ‘Sound of Music.’ No one really knows all of their names. Everyone knows this character, so playing someone who is known is fun.”
Yesso, who admitted he loves dark humor, has always been an Addams Family fan after seeing the old comic strips from the 1930s. Add tunes and the senior is excited to perform for the audience.
“This is some of the best music I have ever performed. This is happy and fun music with dark tones. There is a song about death being around the corner sung to a tap dance,” the young thespian said. “I can’t wait for people to see it. I am going to have fun performing it and I hone thev have fun watchine it.”
IF YOU GO….
THE ADDAMS FAMILY
WHEN: Thursday through Saturday at 7 p.m.; also 2 p.m. matinee Saturday
WHERE: Kolb Center at Vandebilt Catholic High School in Houma
COST:$12, adults; $8, students
WEB: tledet@htdiocese.org or 985-856-8244
Wednesday Addams (Vandy’s Madelyn Rodrigue) yells at Lucas Meineke (Jacob McManus) during Vandebilt Catholic High School’s rehearsal of “The Addams Family.”
