NEW PALESTINE — Director Michael Dean and students from New Palestine High School say they are excited to present “The Addams Family: The New Musical Comedy” this weekend.
Performances are scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday and at 2 p.m. Saturday at the school’s auditorium. Tickets are $10 for adults and $8 for students.
Some eight weeks from when students started working on the musical, Dean said the growth shown by the cast members has been outstanding, and he’s looking forward to family, friends and the community getting a chance to see the show.
“With having only eight weeks from auditions to the run of production, our students have risen to the challenge to ready themselves,” Dean said.
Dean noted they have 32 performers who will be taking the stage, and the musical fit their projected cast needs well.
“When selecting any production, you evaluate the anticipated personnel and select from productions that are likely to accentuate those pieces,” Dean said.
Senior Lily Westrate plays Morticia Addams, the lead female role, and said she was thrilled to see the school was doing a musical this year because last year they did not.
“I was in a musical we did my sophomore year and was kind of bummed we didn’t do one last year but, wow, it’s my senior year and we’ve got a musical and this one is so much fun,” Westrate said.
She feels the audience will have a great time watching the show because it has a little bit of something for everyone.
“It’s like the perfect blend between a serious plot and a fun show,” Westrate said.
Sophomore Kyle Simon plays a character named Mal Beineke, a supporting role which is not a huge fan of the Addams Family.
“So obviously there is going to be a lot of tension between my character and the Addams Family,” Simon said. “It’s a lot of fun and it’s a fun role one that I think the audience will like and get a lot of laughs.”
Senior Rachel Santelik is the stage manager for both the crew and the cast. She noted things have been a little hectic since this is the director’s first musical at the school but she feels the cast has come together well.
“We’ve got a lot of new faces for the musical because we didn’t do a musical last year, so lots of fresh faces but honestly everyone is doing very well and this is a fun environment,” Santelik said. “I think what the audience is going to like about this is it’s not the traditional Addams Family. The girl, Wednesday Addams, is not a little girl anymore; she’s grown and she’s going to be getting married to a normal boy.”
Senior Jack Kessinger plays the boy Wednesday Addams is going to marry and said, even though this is his first ever musical, the show is coming along quite well.
“I’ve really enjoyed all of this,” Kessinger said. “There are some twists and turns with all of this, but I’m really glad I jump in and did it because my character, he gets to be a little weirdish, but I still get to be normal.”
Dean noted he’s served as the technical director for many shows during his tenure at Beech Grove High School, but this show will be his first experience as a director of an entire musical.
“It has been quite the experience,” Dean said. “Fortunately, we have assembled a creative team of wonderful people who have absolutely made this production a must-see event.”
Dean has been working with his co-director, Bethany McDonald, who he says has been an indispensable source of guidance and has had an undeniable impact on virtually every aspect of this production.
“Our pit conductor, Tim Reed, is an up-and-coming music educator who has brought his passion and experience for leading musical pit orchestras and has been captaining that aspect of our team for the past three weeks,” Dean said. “And our outstanding team of pit musicians has worked tirelessly and selflessly to support our performers on stage and maximize their performances in the best way possible.”
Dean noted the parental support offered with construction of set pieces and feeding the performers has been vital to their success.
“It truly has been a blessing to work alongside so many wonderful people,” Dean said.
While Dean said there are many challenges with any production, and that this show has quite a lot, he noted much of the fun is in working through the challenges together.
“I think our audiences will have fun with the comedy and be awed by the way our students are making some very difficult musical challenges seem rather routine,” Dean said. “The show is coming together very nicely. We obviously are still smoothing out transitional moments and refining the fine details, but we are going to be fully prepared for opening night.”
