Review: OTL's Lively and Laugh-filled THE ADDAMS FAMILY More Kooky than Spooky

The months of February and March are normally associated with hearts and shamrocks, not gravestones and ghouls. That is, unless you're a member of the Addams family.

In Off the Lake Productions' spring musical, the Addamses open the doors to their mysterious mansion and welcome Wednesday's boyfriend and his family to a high-stakes dinner party. But as they attempt to make a killer first impression with the visiting Beinekes (Dan McCullough and Susie Meyer), tensions run high as the family struggles to accept the fact that their Wednesday is growing up.

Featuring the characters made famous by Charles Addams' cartoons in The New Yorker and David Levy's television series, the musical discusses love, independence and trust in a story that is full of nostalgic references to the Addams family's signature quirkiness.

As always, Off the Lake Productions, Ohio State's student-run musical theater organization, makes excellent use of its unconventional performance space. The action unfolds on a two-tiered set, complete with a dramatic staircase sitting front-and-center and deep burgundy walls adorned with haphazardly hung photos of previous generations of Addamses.

Full-company choreography fills the lecture hall with energy, especially in the snap-accompanied, upbeat opening number called "When You're An Addams," which resurrects Addams family ancestors, as well as various fashion trends and dance moves from decades' past.

Taking on the role of Gomez, the Addams family's surprisingly peppy patriarch, Jordan Feliciano, a criminology major, shows off his comedic skills. Reluctantly acting as mediator between his wife, Morticia (Sarah Falck), and his daughter, Wednesday (Cameron DeVille), Gomez is caught in an impossible situation. But, in spite of his suffering, he does get to live out every father's dream when he greets Wednesday's lover, Lucas (Conner Limbaugh), in the foyer armed with a sword.

As Morticia, an austere-yet-adoring wife and mother, Falck, a marketing student who is minoring in music, excels in taking one of the series' most iconic characters and making it her own. DeVille also impresses in her OTL debut with her portrayal of Wednesday, whose journey of self-discovery uproots internal concerns that are perfectly presented in the song "Pulled."

Other members of the Addams clan, Grandma (Courtney Tipton), Wednesday's brother, Pugsley (Victoria Valko), and the slow-moving butler, Lurch (Jordan Potter), assist in making the meeting of families as awkward as possible, generating many laughs along the way with their angsty antics. Meanwhile, ghoulish Uncle Fester (Joe Compton) acts as a corpse-like Cupid and even gets a love-centered subplot of his own.

The second act drags a bit as secondary storylines are wrapped up, but it also includes some of the show's most sincere moments. In "Live Before We Die," Gomez and Morticia share a sweet moment of reconciliation, while "Happy/Sad" offers a beautifully honest conversation between father and daughter about growing older and letting go.

With witty writing, impressive dance numbers and innovative staging, OTL's "The Addams Family" keeps the comforting elements of its classic roots while creating a new story that is sure to resonate with its collegiate audience.

OTL is set to perform "The Addams Family" on March 3 at 8 PM and on March 4 at 4:30 and 8 PM in Room 131 in Ohio State's Hitchcock Hall.

Admission is one canned good, to be donated to the Mid-Ohio Foodbank, or $1, to be donated to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Columbus. Monetary donations must be in the form of card, BuckID or Venmo. No cash will be accepted.

More information can be found on OTL's website.

Room 131 is located on the first floor of Hitchcock Hall, 2070 Neil Ave. on OSU's Columbus campus.

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