Levels will perform the magnificently macabre musical comedy, “The Addams Family,” on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, August 8, 9 and 10 at 8:00 p.m. in the Levels Teen Center on the lower level of the Great Neck Library’s main building, 159 Bayview Ave. in Great Neck.
Levels, the library’s cultural center for teenagers established in 1974, presents several fully-staged theatrical productions a year. Levels productions are traditionally directed, produced and performed by students seventh-grade through college-age.
“The Addams Family” was created by a Tony award-winning team that includes authors Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice (“Jersey Boys”), and composer-lyricist Andrew Lippa (“The Wild Party”), based on the well-known characters created by darkly hilarious cartoonist Charles Addams: Gomez, Morticia, Uncle Fester, Wednesday, Pugsley, Grandma, Lurch and more.
In the kooky, spooky, upside-down world of the Addams family, a grave crisis is brewing. It is every father’s worst nightmare… but in reverse. Daughter Wednesday, the ultimate Princess of Darkness, has grown up and fallen in love with a “normal” young man, Lucas Beineke, from a quite respectable Ohio family — not even remotely fiendish. Worse, the romance seems to have turned the steadfastly gloomy Addams girl downright cheery, leaving her family very worried and distressed. Comic chaos reigns when they host a dinner for Wednesday’s new boyfriend and his parents so they can become better acquainted with the entire Addams family.
“The Addams Family” is directed by Levels veteran Rebecca Hirschhorn and choreographed by Levels veteran Daisy Korman. Vocal direction is by Samuel Calto, and Emma Young is the show’s producer. Set design is by Britt Trachtenberg, costume design by Nina Zar, lighting design and set construction by Tyler “T-Rex” Hakimian, prop and puppet design by Shana Litt and Molly Racsko, and makeup and hair design by Hannah Romano, with assistant makeup and hair designer Aliza Fine.
The cast of high school and middle school students includes Aiden Cho, Samuel Calto, Anna Goldman, Clara Goldman, Ava Hoffman, Kylie Hoffman, Shira Lichter, Faith Mosley, Jacqueline Park, Kajal Ramphul, Emely Renteria, Adam Schiff, Britt Trachtenberg, Katie Wang, Kevin Wang, Marvin Williams, Alyssa Wong and Nina Zar. The student musicians include Preston Chan, Hani Kang, Jonathan Kirshner, Cyrus Moussavi, Nina Phillips, Freddy Sion, Kate Smolens, Omeed Tartak, Elaine Zhang and Chloe Zhou.
Admission is free and open to the public. Tickets are intended to guarantee seating, as space is limited. They can be requested at the circulation desks of all Great Neck Library locations while they last. Doors open 45 minutes before showtime for those with tickets and 15 minutes prior for those without tickets. For more information, contact Levels at 516-466-8055 ext. 216 or email levels@greatnecklibrary.org.
