The Green Hope Theater Company’s The Addams Family premieres on March 23rd, with showings until March 25th. As premiere approaches, all the performers and technicians involved are working to refine the comedic musical about the morbid family.

The director, Mr. Peter Comperatore, channels his vision onto the stage. “Putting together a musical is such a demanding process. I often feel more like a CEO than a director when doing a musical. The live music, dancing and singing aspect adds a lot of coordination. I have to make sure that all the elements are going to work together that are often never in the same room together until the very end of the process. But it being so demanding, is what makes it so rewarding,” stated  Mr. Comperatore. 

At the beginning of January, auditions occurred. The auditioners, mainly chorus and theater students, were evaluated based on their singing, acting and dancing. Ultimately, the casting directors selected 33 people to be a part of the show.

Rehearsals are crucial for fine-tuning each line and note. Nathaniel Thompson (‘24), who plays Caveman and the understudy of  Uncle Fester, illustrates a typical rehearsal day. “Our warmups may vary depending on the day. For normal blocking rehearsals, it’s mostly diction-based warmups. If we are doing choreography, we tend to do more stretches. And if we sing during a rehearsal, we will do vocal exercises to get our voices ready to go. From there, if you’re in a scene being blocked or choreographed, you go up on stage,” stated Thompson.

The backbone of the play consists of all the technicians who work backstage. The Addams Family is technically demanding, with complex designs consisting of paint-caked faces, dusky-blue lights and the Addams’ mansion. Eight technical departments work to match the settings surrounding the iconic family. 

As a set designer, Zaynab Almayali (‘23) works as a leader to collaboratively design and build sets with her department. She stated, “Typically, day to day, we’ll spend our time working on building the set pieces for The Addams Family, ranging from the overall set to more minuscule things such as a potion cart.” 

Regarding progress so far, Mr. Comperatore noted that everyone involved in the production is contributing. “The entire company, cast and crew have come in with such a sense of purpose. Everyone is working hard and communicating well. If this pace keeps up, I feel confident we are going to have a strong show that the company can be proud of presenting,” stated Mr. Comperatore. 

Similar to Freaky Friday, the musical from last year, The Addams Family embodies all aspects of a hit musical- comedic lines, exciting choreography and flashy characters.