Bethel Park High School will stage a musical that’s a little creepy and kooky, mysterious and spooky, and altogether ooky, when it presents “The Addams Family,” March 15-18, at 7 p.m. each night. Tickets are $10 per ticket, plus fees, and will be sold exclusively through the school district’s website starting on March 1.
You can learn more about that here. In the upside-down world of the Addams Family, to be sad is to be happy, to feel pain is to feel joy, and death and suffering are the stuff of their dreams. Nonetheless, this quirky family still has to deal with many of the same challenges any other family faces and the spookiest nightmare every family faces: the Addams children are growing up!
The Addamses have lived by their unique values for hundreds of years, and Gomez and Morticia, the patriarch and matriarch of the clan, would be only too happy to continue living that way. However, their dark, macabre, beloved daughter Wednesday is now a young woman ready for her own life. She has fallen in love with Lucas Beineke, a sweet, smart boy from a typical, respectable Ohio family — the most un-Addams-sounding person one could be!
And to make matters worse, she has invited the Beinekes to their home for dinner. In one fateful, hilarious night, secrets are disclosed, relationships are tested, and the Addams family must face up to the one horrible thing they’ve managed to avoid for generations: change.
Todd Kuczawa, the show’s producer and vocal director, said he chose “The Addams Family” because it was time for a true comedy and how well it suited his students.
“We like to alternate genres from year-to-year just to keep the students engaged,” he said. “Last year was a Rodgers and Hammerstein production (‘Cinderella’), and those shows are amazing; but after you do a show like that, it’s important to mix it up and come up with something a little less traditional.”
“This show is definitely kooky; it’s also a lot of fun.”
Another benefit of “The Addams Family,” according to Kuczawa, is that it is nostalgic for older audiences and timely for younger performance goers.
“Netflix has a show called ‘Wednesday,’ and a lot of our students have seen it and instantly understand the premise of this show very well,” he said. “It is also very dark, adding to the students' fun.”
The chorus and ensemble parts all play deceased ancestors of the Addams Family, and they help guide the family through their struggles.
“The show is hilarious and silly, but it also has some timeless and wonderful messages for the audience,” said Kuczawa.
As has long been the case at Bethel Park, “The Addams Family” will have two casts. Junior Noah Stiglich and senior Nick Dell will play Gomez Addams. Juniors
Clara McGough and
Alea Taylor will each play his beautiful wife, Morticia. Seniors
Anthony Hughes and
Dylan Finnell will be Uncle Fester. Wednesday Addams will be portrayed by junior
Meghan DeHaven and senior
Elizabeth Robinson, respectively.
The dance captains are seniors
Alayna Banks and
Aubrey Manion, while the student directors are seniors
AnnaMarie Lorenzi and
Natalie Sager.
Tickets:
Bethel Park is partnering with Homestead-based eServices Technology, which has developed a more convenient way for guests to purchase tickets to the school district’s live events. All seating for The Addams Family is reserved at $10 per ticket, plus fees,
and will be sold electronically through the school district’s website starting March 1. The website will give fans a real-time accounting of available seating. As always, we urge people to use caution when ordering tickets through third parties.
The electronic tickets will be sold based on availability, including the event night. As with many concerts and professional sporting events these days, no physical tickets will be sold in advance or in person at the door.
The district already employs the electronic ticketing system for its varsity sporting events. It has also used the electronic ticketing system for the Independence Middle School musical in December and multiple other district events.
Should you have any questions, please contact Mrs. Tracy Celletti at 412-854-8514; or by email at
[email protected].