NCC's Summer Theatre stages 'The Addams Family'
The odd, but lovable characters of "The Addams Family" take the stage in North Central College's Summer Musical Theatre's July production of the new musical comedy, with book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice and music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa.
Six performances will be staged at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, July 10 to 18, and at 2 p.m. Sundays, July 12 and 19, in North Central's Pfeiffer Hall, 310 E. Benton Ave., Naperville. Tickets are $18 for adults and $12 for students and senior citizens. For tickets, contact (630) 637-7469 or northcentralcollege.edu/showtix.
Susan Craig-Olsen is the show's director and choreographer. A professional actor for more than a decade, she has been a teacher, director and choreographer in the area for 15 years. Ross Berkley, a 2005 North Central graduate in choral music education, gives musical direction.
"The Addams Family" musical centers on characters created by Charles Addams for The New Yorker magazine, as early as 1933. Eventually tweaked for a television series in the 1960s and groomed for movies in the 1990s, the characters are the same odd, but lovable family members.
When Gomez and Morticia's daughter Wednesday brings a boy home for dinner, she begs them all to be "normal" for just one night. Hilarity ensues.
"More than that, this show is about relationships - ones we can all relate to," Craig-Olsen says. "The moral of the story: Embrace the sad along with the happy in order to truly live."
The cast for "The Addams Family" features community residents as singers, dancers and these principal roles (Wednesday and Alice are double cast):
Gomez Addams: Keith Carlson of Naperville (1995 North Central graduate)
Morticia Addams: Becky Messerschmidt of Glen Ellyn
Uncle Fester: Mark Johnson of Naperville
Wednesday Addams: Alex Oechsel and Taylor Oechsel of Naperville
Pugsley Addams: Blake Barnickel of Plainfield
Mal Beineke: Chris Oechsel of Naperville
Alice Beineke: Kathy Musselman of Woodridge (2006 North Central graduate) and Jen Prerost of Naperville (2001 North Central graduate)
Lucas Beineke: Brian Warren of Glendale Heights (2014 North Central graduate)
Grandma: Lisa Stach of Downers Grove
Lurch: Stuart Vance of Naperville
The Grimm Reaper/Ancestor Cowboy: Justin Smusz of Bolingbrook
"The Addams Family" is the one of three musicals this summer at North Central College. The final musical of the summer is "The Music Man" directed by Brian Lynch and presented July 31, Aug. 1, 2, 7 and 9.
If you go
What: "The Addams Family"
When: 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, July 10 to 18; 2 p.m. Sundays, July 12 and 19
Where: North Central College's Pfeiffer Hall, 310 E. Benton Ave., Naperville
Tickets: $18 adults, $12 students and seniors
Info: (630) 637-7469 or northcentralcollege.edu/showtix