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On Netflix’s “Wednesday,” there’s no mystery Wednesday Addams can’t solve, no murder too dire.
But on stage, as in life, young love turns out to be a most tricky mystery – one not as readily resolved by Wednesday – unless shooting an apple off your boyfriend’s head with a bow and arrow while blindfolded counts as a test of true love.
Maybe the rest of us would prefer roses and chocolate.
But nothing is normal in “The Addams Family: The Musical” playing at the Walnut Street Theatre through Nov. 1.
They hold family reunions in the cemetery. There’s a moon-struck uncle named Fester and a butler, who lurches, perhaps because his name is Lurch. Wednesday’s brother worries that she’ll stop torturing him. What? Totally backwards. But what do you expect when the family matriarch is named Morticia and is assisted by a “handy” faithful servant, known as Thing?
“It’s really a family franchise,” said Abbie Parker, 17, who plays Wednesday in her debut performance at the Walnut. “As weird and interesting as their family is, there’s still a lot of love.”
And love is at the heart of the plot. Wednesday and Lucas, from a “normal” family, fall in love and want their parents to meet. The Addams crew vows to act as normally as possible when Lucas’ parents come for dinner. But then, it all depends on what defines normal. One pro tip: When the future in-laws come over, definitely show off your collection of torture devices. Sure to impress.
Parker became acquainted with Addams Family through “Wednesday,” the Netflix series, and also, as a Halloween movie, “The Addams Family,” but this isn’t her first time in the Addams Family milieu on stage.
In middle school, she was part of the ensemble in the musical presented by Salt Performing Arts, a community theater, performing arts, and education organization in Chester Springs, where she is an on-stage regular.
“I liked it,” she said. She knew then that she’d get another chance to perform the musical. “I really wanted to play Wednesday.”
People tell her that she’s a natural for “angsty” characters like Wednesday, or Lydia Deetz, the 15-year-old goth girl in “Beetlejuice,” but Parker said she really prefers bubbly roles like when she played Elle Woods, the super-smart, super-blonde lead in “Legally Blonde.”
“I would love to do that again,” she said.
“Maybe it’s just my face,” Parker said, speculating on why people think she’s so suited for odd souls like Wednesday. “My face can be very chill when resting. In the musical version, Wednesday’s only her classic, solemn, emo self for the first two scenes, then she’s pulled (out of it). She’s smiling and excited and remains that way for the rest of the show.”
Parker, who landed a leading role as Tinker Bell in “Peter Pan” at age five, hopes audiences get a chance to relax and enjoy all the weirdness that is part of the Addams family experience.
The audience will “definitely like the comedy of the show and of the family,” she said. “It’s relatable. People can see parts of their lives in it and part of their family’s lives in it and the family dynamics.”
Her favorite moments include a chance to sing “Pulled,” Wednesday’s big solo number. “That’s initially why I liked the show so much,” Parker said. “She has a couple good songs and “Pulled” is a very good vocal part. Very high. Very high and belty – a solid musical theater belt.”
Although there’s no specific age for Wednesday in the script, Parker imagines Wednesday as 18, just a year older than she is.
When Parker’s not performing in the “Addams Family,” she’s finishing her senior year at Great Valley High School in Malvern. As soon as the show closes, she’ll begin rounds of auditions for acceptance as a freshman majoring in musical theater at colleges and universities around the country.
“This show is about growing up,” Parker said. In the play, there are a couple of poignant moments when she’s with Gomez, who is her father, and her brother, Pugsley.
“She’s realizing that she’s not a kid anymore, and at the end, she does get married,” Parker said. “I’m growing up as well. This year, as a senior, there’s a lot of lasts – last Christmas at home, last birthday at home. It’s a big year for me.
“When Wednesday realizes she’s growing up, Abbie feels she’s growing up as well,” Parker said. “But I’m definitely not getting married.”
FYI
“The Addams Family: The Musical” through Nov. 1 at the Walnut Street Theatre, 825 Walnut St., Phila. 215-574-3550. Special Halloween programming includes Kids Night at the Walnut on Thursday, Oct. 29, when each adult ticketholder can bring a child for free, Two to Tango Date Night is on Friday, Oct. 30, when two tickets cost $140 and include pre-show events from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Addams After Dark follows on Saturday, Oct. 31 when all tickets are $35, drinks cost $10, and pre-show events are included in the price.
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The Addams Family was originally created by cartoonist Charles Addams as single standalone comic panels in the New Yorker, published from between 1938 and 1988. Addams attended the University of Pennsylvania from 1930 to 1931. It is said that the inspiration for the Addams Family mansion comes from College Hall. Built in 1871, it was the first Penn building and housed all the college functions. Now the campus also includes the Charles Addams Fine Arts Hall, which contains studios for Penn’s fine arts students. The building isn’t very impressive from Walnut Street. But step onto campus at 36th Street and catch a sculptural line-up of the Addams family characters. Don’t miss the building’s distinctive gates with hands holding paintbrushes, a camera, and scissors. The sculptor, Mark Lueders, drew his inspiration from an Addams Family character, a disembodied hand named Thing.
