JANUARY 20, 2017, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A3
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McNary presents The Addams Family musical
KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley
The cast of The Addams Family sings and dances during an opening scene of the musical coming to McNary on Jan. 19-21 and 26-28. More photos on Page 5.
for adults and $7 for patrons
under 13 and over 65.
The story centers around
Wednesday Addams, her love
for a normal boy, Lucas, and
the meeting of the two vastly
different families.
Two seniors who were pre-
viously love interests as sopho-
mores in Legally Blonde, Emma
Blanco and Ryan Cowan, play
Wednesday and Lucas.
“I’m excited that this is the
show that we’re closing every-
thing up with,” Blanco said.
“I’m defi nitely pulling a lot
of inspiration from the movie,
her dark personal. She has a
very morbid sense about her.
“This musical is different
because it’s when she falls in
love and experiences happi-
ness and things she’s never felt
before. It’s defi nitely tricky
trying to fi nd that balance
between the darkness and
when she’s happy. That’s prob-
ably been the most challeng-
ing part of this experience so
far. But it’s really fun. There’s
lots of touching moments dis-
persed between these really
funny, weird ones.”
Playing opposite Thomas as
Morticia, Wednesday’s mom,
is another McNary senior—
Skyla Cawthon.
“It was kind of hard at fi rst
because she’s a super confi dent,
strong woman,” Cawthon said.
“I had to think though how
she would think and how she
would feel and even posture
wise, how she walks. But I just
enjoy how different it is than
the other musicals and being
able to play a character that
I’ve never played before is a
really nice experience.”
McNary Drama Director
Dallas Myers said the musi-
cal is a showcase for the en-
tire cast, which also includes
Avery Smith as Pugsley, Josiah
Henifi n as Uncle Fester, An-
nie Purkey as Grandma, Mat-
thew Albright as Lurch, Jacob
Grimmer and Madi Zuro’s as
Lucas’ parents Mal and Alice
and an ensemble of 31 Ad-
dams family ancestors.
“Everyone of our kids
that has a featured part in it
is killer, is really killer and it
fi ts them so well,” Myers said.
“They’re (the characters) big
and they cause kids to make
huge choices.
“Ashton and Skyla are dy-
namic as Gomez and Morti-
cia, more so than I even an-
ticipated. They are on another
level. This is a real feature for
them. Emma as Wednesday is
terrifi c but even Annie as the
puzzle answers
grandma character is one of
my favorite things of all time.
She’s just so good. Matthew
has never been in a musical for
us. Lurch is a fairly voiceless
part but he grunts a lot and
he’s doing terrifi c. I’m pretty
thrilled with their perfor-
mance. They are so ready.”
The cast has also kept My-
ers laughing.
“I’ve done a bunch of com-
edies and usually about two
weeks left I stop laughing in
rehearsals and with this one I
continue to fi nd new stuff and
the cast has done such a great
job of fi nding new things that
PURCHASE 1 ENTREE + 2 DRINKS
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
Ashton Thomas, a senior,
who made his musical debut
in the McNary High School
drama department as a fresh-
man in Urinetown, isn’t ready
to say goodbye to the Ken
Collins Theater.
“It’s going to be hard to
leave this behind because this
has been such a cool place for
me,” Thomas said. “It hasn’t
really hit me yet, honestly. It’s
going to be really weird tran-
sitioning into college life, most
likely without theater stuff so
I’m just trying to live in the
moment and enjoy it while I
can because this place is awe-
some.”
Thomas, who plays Gomez
in The Addams Family musical,
couldn’t think of a better way
to go out.
“The show has a perfect
blend of great music and then
awesome comedy,” Thomas
said.
But it’s the cast that makes
the show special.
“I feel like I just know ev-
eryone in the cast this time
and being able to just go up to
anyone and high fi ve or talk to
them, it’s such a different envi-
ronment than anything we’ve
had before,” Thomas said.
“We’ve been with this
show all semester too so it’s
cool to see how everything
is coming together and how
it’s completely different from
any other musicals I’ve done
here and that’s what makes
this show so special. The cast,
crew, everybody that’s part of
this show are the best people.”
The Addams Family debuted
on Thursday, Jan. 19 and runs
Jan. 20-21 and 26-28 at 7 p.m.
Matinees are also scheduled
for Saturday, Jan. 21 and Jan.
28 at 1:30 p.m.
Tickets, available at mc-
naryhs.ticketleap.com, are $10
I’m still laughing,” he said.
Myers has less students in
his technical theatre class than
usual but that hasn’t slowed
them down.
“We built a giant house,”
Myers said. “We had to build
the Addams family house and
we had to fi gure out what to
do to rotate through all the
sets and I think my technical
kids have done a phenomenal
job.”
McNary Choir Director
Joshua Rist has assisted with
vocals and Sean Williams is di-
recting 18 students in the or-
chestra pit.
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