BWW Previews: THE ADDAMS FAMILY, A NEW MUSICAL IS COMING TO The Straz Center For The Performing Art's TECO Theater

Snap... snap.

Just in time for Halloween, The Addams Family, A New Musical is coming to The Straz Center for the Performing Art's TECO Theater.

Directed by Suzanne Livesay, on October 18-21, a cast of 21 Patel Conservatory students in grades eight through 12 bring the story of The Addams Family to life, with musical direction by Kavanaugh Gillespie and choreography by Steven Jones.

The Addams Family, A New Musical tells the tale of the grown-up princess of macabre, Wednesday Addams, who has fallen in love with a nice, respectable, and unfortunately, normal young man, the antithesis of everything her parents wanted for her. Wednesday has asked for the families to meet and for her father to keep a secret from her mother. Everything will change for the whole family on that fateful night.

Suzanne pulled from the classic television show to capture the personalities of each of the iconic characters - creepy, kooky, spooky.

"I'm trying to tap in to what I recall from the old-school Addams Family tv show that we grew up watching," she said. "The cast did a good job of making it creepy. It is kooky-big-time. Anything that is normal is not normal to them. We're doing a little bit of spooky, but more like the humor of the old haunted house mentality - funny scary is the route that this show goes and it's really easy to tap into that."

To connect with his character of Fester, fifteen-year-old Aaron Graham watched the movies and kept a diary in the voice of Fester, writing about his love of the moon which he uses come performance time when he sings "The Moon and Me."

At September's close, the cast was gifted with the appearance of Wesley Taylor fresh off of Broadway's Spongebob, who originated the role of The Addam's Family Lucas on Broadway. He told stories about this, his first show out of college, working with Nathan Lane and BeBe Newirth, and he worked scenes with the cast's Lucas and Wednesday.

"The show is about family. There are lessons every couple needs to see, especially if they've been together for a long time," said Suzanne. "It's a feel good show and there's a little something for everybody. It's about the people in your life - how you treat them and what you do with them."

If you want to discover the secret Gomez is forced to hide from his beloved Morticia, you have 5 chances to see how Wednesday deals with her crazy family.

Aaron said, "The show is crazy, fun and strange... in a good way. The whole show in general is about love. It's going to be a spectacular show."

The Addams Family, A New Musical will be presented in TECO Theater October 18-21. It is rated PG for a mild use of curse words. Performances are Thursday and Friday at 7 p.m., Saturday at 2 and 7 p.m. and Sunday at 2. Regularly priced tickets start at $15 and may be purchased by calling 813.229.7827, in person at the Straz Center Ticket Office or online at www.strazcenter.org.

Saturday's matinee is a sensory-free, kid-friendly and judgment-free performance.

To post a comment, you must register and login.