Singing, dancing ‘Addams Family’ comes to Plymouth

By Rich Fahey

They’re creepy and they’re kooky,
Mysterious and spooky,
They’re all together ooky,
The Addams Family.

-The theme from “The Addams Family” TV show

PLYMOUTH – It had to happen. Any TV show that could boast characters such as Gomez, Morticia, Lurch, Uncle Fester, Grandmama, and children Wednesday and Pugsley had to come to the stage. And in a musical, no less, with the aforesaid characters singing and dancing their way into your heart.

The Americana Theatre Company is presenting “The Addams Family,” subtitled “A New Musical,” from July 9-26 at the Spire Center for the Performing Arts, the professional company’s annual summer residency in downtown Plymouth.

The Broadway production had. what you’d call “good bones.” It ran for 732 performances and starred multiple Tony winners Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth as Gomez and Morticia, with a score by Andrew Lippa, who wrote the book, music and lyrics for “The Wild Party.” The book is by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice; Elice wrote the book for “Peter and the Starcatcher,” Americana’s production last summer.

The TV show “The Addams Family,” which was itself inspired by the cartoons by Charles Addams in The New Yorker magazine, ran for two seasons and 64 black and white episodes from 1964-66, with a live-action color revival for one season in 1998-99.

The musical’s story concerns the efforts of Wednesday, the somewhat dour, deranged but still good-hearted daughter played by Finlay Ryan Gould, to marry boyfriend Lucas Beineke, played by Caleb Gould. His parents are coming to dinner and — in a plot device used to great advantage in another musical, “La Cage Aux Folles.” Wednesday is worried about what his straight-as-an-arrow parents will think of her off-the-beaten-path family.
“We’re the Addams — and they’re from Ohio,” she says.
The character of Wednesday Addams has also became a recent breakout sensation in the streaming series “Wednesday” about her adventures at Nevermore Academy.

Derek Grant Martin and Jesse M. Sullivan, Americana’s co-artistic directors, have known each other since their high school days in Carver before heading to the Hartt School at the University of Hartford, where they earned degrees in musical theater. Martin went on to earn an MBA in acting and directing from Regent University and now serves as chairman of the Department for Theater and Dance at Liberty University in Virgina Beach, Va. Sullivan acts, directs, teaches, and does a large amount of studio work.

“I really wasn’t involved in theater until college,” said Martin, whose father Peter, a retired businessman, oversees the business side of the group. “But since I started, my family has been very supportive.”

Both Martin and Sullivan usually wear a multiple number of hats for Americana’s summer and Christmas shows but will leave the direction in this show to Marianne Savell, a frequent collaborator.

In this production, Martin is Gomez Addams, the patriarch, with Payton Gobeille as wife Morticia. Sullivan is the towering butler Lurch, and the cast also includes Nick Hancock as the deranged Uncle Fester, Brian Kenerson as Grandmama, and Austin Dann as Pugsley, the somewhat conflicted son for whom torture is just another sport. Erin Friday and David Friday are the unsuspecting parents from Ohio who drop in on the Addams. Many of the actors are longtime members of the company.

Five characters called Ancestors are also part of the mix, willing participants in many of the show’s production numbers.

The show stresses the importance of embracing individuality while also exploring the challenges of growing up and — to put it mildly — family dynamics.

Director Savell is tasked with making sure the cast stays en pointe even while pushing their characters to the edge

“With so many crazy, over-the-top characters her job is to make sure the story and message still get through,” said Martin in a phone interview.  “It’s really a show the whole family can enjoy.”

The Americana has been in residency in Plymouth since 2011, and while the Christmas show relies on holiday staples such as the radio version of “It’s a Wonderful Life” or the troupe’s own adaptation of “A Christmas Carol,” the summer show usually falls into one of three genres.

“In the summer, we’re looking for a comedy, a mystery or a musical,” said Martin. “Nothing too heavy.”  

The Americana Theatre Company is presenting “The Addams Family, a New Musical” from July 9-26 at The Spire Center for the Performing Arts, Plymouth. For tickets, go to Americanatheatre.org.