TORTURE: Poly’s theatre program afflicts the school with the musical comedy “The Addams Family.”
By Clare O’Brien, Staff Writer
Once again, Poly’s theatre program has graced the students and parents with a musical performance. This winter, the Addams family was overtaken by Poly students in the musical comedy full of heart and wit, but most importantly humor. As the curtains opened, the beautiful set design was revealed as the grand house of the Addams was showed. The stage crew seemed unbaffled by the size of the set, creating seamless transitions from scene to scene and maintained the pacing of the show.
Each character was played well by the cast, as each member added their own flourish to their character. Although the Bride (played by Evelyn Yohonn), despite being barren with lines, she was able to stand out as a part of the ensemble with her glorious singing ringing through the halls. Lurch (played by Gabriel Ruvalcaba) had few lines but held the perfect demeanor for his character and brought laughter to the audience. Violet Raven’s rendition of the Grandma was humorous and brought a fun taste to the play. Additionally, Zoe Hernandez’s rendition was able to create a giggle with only a simple expression. Although Alice was a difficult character to play because her character went through a drastic, manic transition, it was captured flawlessly by Grace Seiberling, who seemed unafraid to show her “crazy” side to the crowd.
The remaining characters were overtaken by the cast and were portrayed and consumed by their members. Chad Saylor was able to become Pugsley and Uncle Fester and left people laughing (although it sounds completely morbid) as he was tortured or falling in love with the moon. Jerden Patillo, although slightly worrying, completely became Uncle Fester as he broke the fourth wall, found love, and even became a parent. Chava Espinoza brought heart to the play with his heartfelt performance of the loving boyfriend Lucus. Avery Morse (who played Wednesday) swept away the stage as she belted through her songs and played off of Mattie Gaines who portrayed Morticia with sass that made the viewers filled with envy. Ellie Shaw (who played Morticia) brought laughter to the audience and played the character with a perfect amount of judgement. The father of the whole family, Gomez, was played by both Jamian Brown and Daniel Rameshjan, who each brought their own take to the character. Rameshjan sang brilliantly throughout the play with the humor his character so often contained. However, his capabilities were fully explored with his performance of “Happy/Sad” where he sang with candor that left the audience with a bittersweet smile on their lips. Brown brought the lovingly vacuous nature of Gomez, displayed the tendernerous towards Gomez’s family, and adoration for his wife. The character continued to be shown as he sang Gomez’s many solo performances with seeming transition and ease. Lastly, there was Valerie Estrada who played her character so beautifully that her primary song, “Pulled,” astounded the audience as she sang with confidence, confusion, and the desire of her character. For many in the crowd Estrada “completely stole the show” (Crystal Hsueh 12) as she nailed her lines and completely became Wednesday. Estrada’s performance had the audience laughing as her comedic timing was perfected and the struggles of Wednesday became the audience as they were further pulled into the story.