The Addams Family

There are few musicals that touch the heart and scratch a bizarre artistic itch quite like The Addams Family. The prolific impact of this wacky family on pop culture is unparalleled. The Addamses have celebrated weirdos for almost a century, creating a sense of belonging and community for those who might otherwise feel out of place.

The Addams Family made their first appearance as a cartoon in The New Yorker magazine in the late 1930s. The eccentric family and their delight in the macabre were shockingly out of place at that time. In a society rattled by war and the Great Depression, most Americans sought security in conformity. The Addams’ unapologetic love for all things creepy and kooky was clearly and confidently out of place. Cartoonist Charles Addams’ characters were both subversive and humorous, and their appeal continues more than 80 years since their debut.

The Addamses celebrate their uniqueness, and our Summer Campers have embraced this message. The relationships in the Addams family remind me of those among our campers: they might poke fun at one other, but underneath, there is deep love and respect. They celebrate the quirks of the show’s characters, from Grandma’s back-pocket potions to Gomez’s Dad jokes to Morticia’s vanity, just as much as they celebrate their own.

We all have our quirks, and if we acknowledge them, our weirdness unites us. So why do we hide our quirks? What if we, like The Addams Family, were openly and unapologetically ourselves, disregarding social pressure to fit in?

Celebrating differences resonates with the Choir School’s values. We are a community built on a strong commitment to mutual respect, diversity, equity, and inclusion. Our most vulnerable moments as a community have also been our most powerful, from conversations surrounding racial injustice to discussions of our wildest hopes and dreams. Radical acceptance of our differences, born from this vulnerability and respect, has made Summer Camp a truly special place.

Every child is a member of this quirky, lovely, cheerful, safe, powerful, unstoppable family. Cheers to all for a fabulous five weeks and for the growth towards finding our inner-weird. I am so proud of every single weirdo in the theater tonight.

Just as Gomez Addams lets go of his little girl to let her fly into love, that is what I must do with this amazing cast, crew, and production team. I know you will be more incredible than you could ever imagine.

I will leave you with Gomez’s words that speak to the heart of the show:

Right and wrong, who's to say which we should refuse?
All we know, love survives either way we choose.
Here you are at the edge, go ahead and fall.
Don't resist, I insist.
Love still conquers all.

So let's be happy
Forever happy
Completely happy
And a tiny bit
Sad.

Sophia DiLeo, Artistic Director