BAYTOWN, TX — The Lee College Division of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) will hold open auditions next week for its first play of the spring semester — “The Addams Family, A New Musical Comedy” — and members of the community are invited to try out for a role.
Auditions will begin at 4 p.m., Tuesday, Dec. 8, and 6 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 10, inside the main hall of the Performing Arts Center on campus.
Acting, singing, and dancing roles are available for 10 principal characters and up to 12 chorus members. No specific preparations or special acting scenes will be required, but those who audition will be taught songs from the play and will read scenes from the script as needed with others trying out for a part. Volunteers are also welcome to sign up for technical support on sets, props, lights, sound and other areas.
“The Addams Family” is a new Broadway musical written by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, with music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa. It features characters originally created by cartoonist Charles Addams and made famous in the popular 1960s television comedy series starring John Astin and Carolyn Jones. The Addams characters were also nostalgically revived in two movies: “The Addams Family” in 1991 and “Addams Family Values” in 1993.
The musical tells the wildly hilarious story of daughter Wednesday, who has grown up and found love. Her prospective groom, Lucas, does not come from a family with quite the same macabre and ghoulish values as the Addams – much to the consternation of her doting parents, Gomez and Morticia. Other members of the morbid household include brother Pugsley, Uncle Fester, Grandma, and Lurch, the butler. They are watched over by a chorus of dead ancestors, who temporarily escape from their crypts to celebrate what it means to be an Addams.
The Lee College production of “The Addams Family” is under the direction of VPA faculty Kim Martin, John Weinel and Ken Booker. Performances are set for March 3-6, and rehearsals will begin in January.