Eccentrically macabre Addams Family comes to life at Saint Mike’s

Students learning roles ranging from sets and lighting to costumes in addition to acting in new production at Niagara Falls high school

Paul Forsyth, Niagara This Week - Niagara Falls

The enduring charm of an eccentrically macabre family that’s had more lives than a cat for generations will be brought to life at Saint Michael Catholic High School in January, when the three-day run of the Addams Family — The Musical hits the Mustangs stage.

The cast and crew of the production at the Niagara Falls high school have been rehearsing every day — sometimes twice a day — after starting preparations for the lively musical comedy back in September, said student Emily Felstead, who, along with fellow student Alicia Reichenbach, plays an ancestor of the Addams family while also serving as co-stage managers.

Unlike many high school productions when students hold rehearsals after school and focus mostly on acting, the Saint Michael students have been working on the production during drama class and are taking on a vast number of roles necessary for a theatre show to become reality, said school drama teacher Roxanne Rees.

“The student are learning not only the work involved in performing, but they’re also learning the work involved behind the scenes: the marketing, the lighting, the sounds, the sets, the costumes, props, the makeup,” she said.

“So at the end of the semester they have an appreciation of the amount of work that’s involved in putting on a production.”

Rees said that may open up the eyes of some students to other potential careers rather than just acting.

“They may realize they really like marketing or set design,” she said. “It opens different career paths.”

Rees said musicals are more difficult to put on than plays because of the need to choreograph the vocals and dancing with the sound.

The show, which Felstead called a “dark comedy,” features a fictional family that’s been around since the Addams family — Gomez and his eerily pretty wife Morticia, their kids Wednesday and Pugsley, Uncle Fester and iconic butler Lurch — which first appeared in cartoons in the late 1930s.

The family, seemingly unaware that others find them bizarre or creepy, later appeared in a television show in the 1960s and later in various feature films.

Reichenbach said getting involved in drama at the school has been eye-opening for her. She admitted her first production last year had her so nervous that she thought she might be sick — until the high from being onstage kicks in.

“Being up onstage for me is an indescribable feeling,” she said. “It’s one of the best feelings once you get up there and do it.

“It’s what’s made my high school experience. It’s where I found my place.”

Felstead said stage work is like a “roller-coaster” ride. “You’re scared to do it once, but once you’re over and done with it and it’s super, super fun you want it to go on and on,” she said. “You work so hard on something and you finally get to show it off and say, 'This is what we did and it turned out pretty great.'

“I’ve made some of my best friends through this.”

The Addams Family production is open to the public and runs on Jan. 15, 16 and 17 at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10 and are available at the school office at 8699 McLeod Rd. or online at https://schoolcashonline.com