Ste. Anne Collegiate is presenting the musical comedy "The Addams Family" Thursday and Friday of this week. 

Director Lisa Ramsden says everyone is very excited to perform The Addams Family as it has been in the works for a few years. 

“We had this production ready to go in 2020, and we were about six weeks away from opening night when COVID shut us down,” she says. “So we all sat back, took stock of things for a couple of years, and we thought, ‘no, the show needs to go on.’” 

She says some of the cast members were in grade 9 the first time they attempted to put on The Addams Family. 

“And now they get to graduate with the show, so it's very special to us.” 

Ramsden explains the plot of the musical. 

“It's a special show for us because Mr. Warner and I are both parents, and as parents, Morticia and Gomez realize that their kids won't be kids forever.” 

Wednesday is 18 in this production, and she falls in love with Lucas Beneke, a normal boy from a normal family, so the Addams family has to come to terms with that. 

She says a lot of the show is about letting go and learning to accept new people into your family.  

“The show is kind of centered around Wednesday inviting Lucas and his family for dinner, and they realize that there is no such thing as a normal family,” she says. “Instead, they realize that ‘we're not losing our daughter, we're actually gaining more members of our family.’ So it's a beautiful story.” 

Grade 12 student Falda Sigurdson plays Morticia Addams in the musical. 

One of her favourite parts about the musical is that she has been able to build amazing friendships. 

“I was talking to my friend Ash, who plays Gomez, yesterday and we were like 'wow, before this we weren't really friends with each other' and now we've all gotten so close and it's so nice.”  

She says it is great to have gotten so close with the people she will be performing alongside. 

“Gomez was having a bit of a hard time I was like, ‘I'll be right next to you in every scene, so you got someone with you, don’t worry!’ We've all gotten so close and it's just been such an amazing time.” 

She says the musical has required a lot of rehearsing, but it will be very rewarding once they get to perform. 

“Between rehearsing at the school which is normally from lunch-time till the end of the day, and have to do it in heels for Morticia,” she laughs, “Then I get home and I have to work on lines by myself for an hour. I spend a lot of time rehearsing, but it's been so worth it.” 

Sigurdson jokes that she and Morticia are pretty much the same person, and believes she was typecasted. 

“I was waiting for the results back, and I was like, ‘so did I get Morticia?’ and she just kind of looked at me like, ‘are you really asking me this question?’” 

Jim Warner who works behind the scenes explains there are a lot of people involved in the musical. 

“There's probably about 14 in the main cast, we have about 40 in the chorus, and then backstage there's another 15 to 20.” 

Warner loves seeing the growth in the students from when they first started working on the show to their final rehearsals. 

“Last night we were rehearsing and it was like, ‘has this kid ever come a far way from where they started!’ And I've seen that in every one of them.”  

Ste. Anne Collegiate is presenting the musical/comedy "The Addams Family" Thursday and Friday of this week. 

They are holding four shows: two matinees and two evening shows at 7:00 pm. Doors open at 6:30pm for the evening shows. 

You can buy tickets at the door or in advance at the Ste. Anne Collegiate office.  

 

With files from Michelle Sawatzky