Kooky in love

They’re creepy.

They’re kooky.

They’re in love.

And they’ll be on stage this weekend.

Jay County High School’s choir department will present the musical “The Addams Family,” opening with a show at 7 p.m. Friday.

“I’ve had my eye on this show for a while, but I’ve put it off to wait on the cast I thought would do it the best,” said director Susan Denney. “I felt like this was the year to try it.”

“It’s hard vocally,” she added. “Sopranos are singing way up in the stratosphere. It’s dividing into six-part and more harmony. So the chorus numbers are vocally very challenging, but very cool.”

As is the typical goal with the show selections, Denney chose “The Addams Family” in part because of the ability to use a large group of performers on stage in those chorus numbers. In this case, it’s as “the ancestors,” the no longer living relatives of the well-known family made up of father Gomez (Jacob Kellogg), mother Morticia (Jasmine Esparza), daughter Wednesday (Ali McGraw), son Pugsley (Elijah Sutton), Grandma (Kenzie Huey), Uncle Fester (Luke Moser) and butler Lurch (Logan Doll).

After attending a performance at Noblesville High School early in the school year, Denney and her staff decided to dress the ancestors all in white, using black lights to add to the spooky effect.

“I just think the chorus numbers are super fun to watch on stage ’cause they’re all ghosts,” said Denney. “It’s pretty fun aesthetically.”

“This show has some really, really fun chorus numbers that, in my opinion, make the whole show.”

The show follows Wednesday’s budding romance with Lucas Beineke, a “normal” boy from a “respectable” family. 

Wednesday wants to bring her new boyfriend home for dinner and confides in her father. She begs Gomez not to tell Morticia, forcing him to keep a secret from his wife.

The Beineke family — Austin Curtis as Lucas, Wyatt Mock as Mal and Inara Sanderson as Alice — is invited to join the Addams’ for dinner, with both Wednesday and Lucas imploring their parents to be “normal.”

That, as one might expect, doesn’t go so well and chaos ensues.

Denney said she’s been impressed with the cast, especially those who have stepped into lead roles for the first time. One such performer is Kellogg, who guides the show and is constantly trying to keep the peace in his household.

He said getting into the Gomez character has been challenging at times, but enjoyable.

“I used to watch The Addams Family when I was younger,” Kellogg added. “And I took three years of Spanish, so that kind of helped with the accent …”

As for the personality? 

“According to a lot of people, I’m not really a normal person,” he joked.

Denney notes the various touches brought by Huey’s Grandma as comic relief, Moser’s Uncle Fester engaging with the audience and Sutton making his debut on the JCHS stage.

“It’s just kind of fun to see them all find their little place in it,” she said.

Following opening night Friday, additional shows are slated for 7 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $7 and will be available at the door.