Photo by George Katsekes Jr
With The Addams Family , Sunset Playhouse conjures a moody musical theater manifestation of characters best known from the ’60s TV series. Zachary Dean radiates endearing warmth in a pleasantly musical mutation of Jackie Coogan’s Uncle Fester. Dean’s cleverly casual emotional affability in the role serves as a touching anchor for the show’s action. Nicholas Callan Haubner lends a physically powerful dynamic to the role of family patriarch Gomez. Sarah Briana Morris has comically perfect poise, grace and a charmingly shadowy complexity in the role of stylishly sullen family matriarch Morticia.
In a comedy brimming over at the edges with smart bits of satire, little Wednesday (Katie Katschke) has fallen in love with a boy who seems perfectly normal. Wednesday welcomes him and his parents to meet her darkly iconoclastic family, which includes an elevated Todd Herdt as the butler Lurch, a whimsically animated Michelle White as Grandma, and Calaway Swanson as the Addams’ sadistically mischievous son, Pugsley. Naturally, things get a bit out of hand as “normal” Midwesterners from Ohio are contrasted with the Addams’ uniqueness.
Director Adam Steffan brings together all the elements of a much-textured realization of the musical. The ensemble as a whole intermittently drops bits of intensity here and there in an otherwise smartly modulated production that is aided immeasurably by some impressive design work. The ghosts of the Addams’ ancestors drape across the stage in Joanne Cunningham’s lushly spectral costuming. John R. Dolphin’s hauntingly sharp lighting design beautifully paints the action.
Through Nov. 8 at the Furlan Auditorium, 800 Elm Grove Road. For tickets, visit sunsetplayhouse.com.
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