SUNY Oswego's musical adaptation of “The Addams Family,” opening April 16 in Tyler Hall's Waterman Theatre, offers plenty of student opportunities to shine and make iconic parts their own.

Performers said it is both a joy and a challenge to take such well-known characters and give fresh takes on them, but they appreciate the guidance of director and theatre professor Jonel Langenfeld, as well as a lot of preparation.

Musical direction comes from Amanda Li of the music faculty, with Julie Ano and Stephanie Standish serving as choreographers.

Tatianna Copp, who plays Wednesday Addams, said the role is both challenging and fun because the character is the exact opposite of her personality.

“I’m a bubbly person,” Copp said. “I share a lot of love. Wednesday is very straightforward and glum.”

Copp recalled with a laugh that Langenfeld had to tell her to stop smiling during early rehearsals.

An adolescence education-English major and theatre minor, Copp watched the popular “Wednesday” spinoff aired on Netflix and drew some inspiration from it while also trying to find the character's core.

“In the musical, Wednesday falls in love, so it’s teetering between sharing that human emotion and staying true to who Wednesday is,” Copp said. “She’s a quirky character and I love her a lot.”

‘Fun being fierce’

Playing the matriarch Morticia Addams, theatre major Camryn Webber appreciates the opportunity to tackle such a distinct character. 

“It's definitely something I've never done before. I've never played a character like Morticia,” Webber said. “I've never really played such an iconic character either, where you need to get everything right. Like trying to find her personality and mimicking some of the things you'd see in the olden days because you don't want to play her wrong.”

Webber said there’s a balance between playing the character as the audience would expect and “also having a little bit of freedom and making her my own character, too.”

“I've looked up the different women who have played Morticia,” Webber said. “And it's just such a powerful role. I just love bringing pieces of each of those different Morticias to mine and making her a new Morticia.”

It helps that Webber finds a lot to love about the character.

“Morticia is a very fearless, elegant, beautiful, powerful woman in general,” Webber said. “It’s super fun being fierce and so confident. She's the best. She stands up to men when she wants to, and she has a lot of passion for different things, and is very stubborn in ways. She gets what she wants.”

Webber notes that having strong female characters dovetails with an all-woman directing team for this production, which also includes students Kat McGreevy as assistant director, Bianca Stevenson as assistant to the director, Kat Larrabee as stage manager, and assistant stage managers Victoria Evanchick and Malanie Atuill, as well as accompanist and music faculty member Rebecca Hornung.

‘The right balance’

Theatre major Ian Katz plays the role of family patriarch Gomez Addams.

“A lot of famous actors, such as Nathan Lane and Raul Julia, have performed the role,” Katz said. “It’s important for me to strike the right balance between those performances and find my own. I have to find the Ian Katz version of the role, not necessarily capture the Nathan Lane version.”

Gomez also demands a lot of range, with many different emotions while interacting with the variety of quirky personalities among the characters, Katz added.

For Katz, the world of show business started with a family tradition. “Every year, my grandmother would take me to a Broadway show for my birthday,” Katz recalled. 

“Probably my favorite thing about theatre is making the audience feel something,” Katz said. “We can make people forget about their problems and have them focus on what’s on stage. There are no barriers in theatre, just an audience and a stage. I love being able to entertain people, and for this show, I’m working with some of the most amazing people.”

Making connections

In a tremendous coincidence, Copp and Katz had their first acting experiences performing in the same play –- “Bye Bye Birdie” –- the same year in different elementary schools, Copp in fourth grade and Katz in fifth grade. It’s one of many connections for them.

“It works to have him play my character’s father figure because he’s been a mentor during my time here,” Copp said of Katz. It reflects the tight-knit nature of those taking part in SUNY Oswego theatre productions.

“The Addams Family” was also the first school production Copp saw, which inspired a passion for performing. “I really love the show,” Copp said. “It’s what made me want to do theatre.”

Copp chose an education major with the hope of being an English teacher but also directing school plays. “Theatre is my passion and I live for it,” Copp said, with the goal to share that passion with students someday.

In addition to playing Morticia, Webber also is a dance captain. “I'd say in almost every song, there's at least some type of movement. There are probably four or five bigger dance numbers involving the ensemble. The ensemble does a lot of dancing,” Webber noted. 

“I was one of the dance captains for ‘The Wedding Singer’ as well,” Webber added. “A dance captain assists the choreographers and helps them demonstrate things. Sometimes I’ll stand in the front so more people can see the dance as they're teaching it. And then maybe one day, if the choreographers are not there, I'll teach some more dance that day without them.”

‘Expect the unexpected’

As for advice for those going to the shows: “Expect the unexpected,” Katz said. “Expect to be entertained. It’s a really fun show but it also has a really important message about not only loving yourself but about the love you get from other people.”

“You can expect a lot of collaborative things coming together. If you came and saw this show for three different nights, you could probably find something new at each show that you didn't see the night before,” Webber said. “There's going to be a lot going on. You could notice different lighting things, cool set pieces. The orchestra pit is amazing with the music. All the songs are great. It's going to be really cool.”

For Copp, the message of the play is an especially important one.

“What I like most about it is that nothing is normal,” Copp said. “To embrace the abnormal is normal. If you’re not your authentic self, you’re not living your best life.”

"The Addams Family" will have 7:30 p.m. curtains on April 16, 17, 20 and 21, with a 2 p.m. Sunday matinee on April 21. In between those dates, high school students attending the university's popular DramaFest will take in the show. 

Tickets are free for students, $15 for the general public, and available via tickets.oswego.edu or any campus box office.