The Addams Family is the devilishly delightful musical comedy based on the bizarre and beloved characters by legendary cartoonist Charles Addams
by kevin perry
Weird is wonderful, outcasts are in, and spooky is kooky. Simply put: We are all Addamses, and we delight in our deviously decadent differences.
“What is real? What is normal? We’re in such a melting pot. It’s like there is no real normal.”
Charles Herrera orchestrates OMG as Gomez Addams in the Desert Theatricals production of The Addams Family.
“I’ve always been fascinated by this character,” Herrera said. “His joy and yet his darkness. … It’s dark but in a funny way, it’s a humorous way, it’s almost like sarcasm because I can be a very sarcastic person. That part really speaks to me: the humor and the tongue-in-cheek of it. But there’s still a lot of love there, too.”
Herrera wows audiences regularly at the Purple Room, a Rat Pack throwback in the heart of Palm Springs. And now he’s exhuming another Sixties spectacle with the musical saga of Wednesday Addams bringing her “normie” love interest home to meet her freaky folks.
“As far as the Addams family is concerned, when they meet this boy’s parents, they don’t see them as different. They just see them as parents, and we try to accommodate Wednesday and try to be quote-unquote ‘normal’ or what we think is normal, and it actually turns out to be something hysterical.”
Crystallizing his point, Herrera composes an impromptu anthem of inclusion.
“There is no normal. We are just who we are.”
But the sinister status quo stands in the way of Gomez’s gregariousness. “There is one line in the show when the father of the boy says, ‘We don’t know what you people are, but frankly, we wanna go back to the real America.’ That to me actually struck a chord when it comes to the LGBTQ+ experience. … It struck me as hitting kind of close to home.”
Another aspect of the character that resonates with Herrera. “His Latin-ness … I’ve always been a fan of accents so me, being of Latin descent, that actually comes very easily for me. It comes very naturally, so that actually adds to the humor and the human-ness of this character as well.”
As out-there as Gomez is, Herrera forges a quirky connection with the audience. “They will actually find some common ground with him because he is a parent, he is a husband, he is a father. So that aspect of it, and especially the humor and the way that he treats his children with all the love and respect that he gives them and his wife and how much he loves her — I think that actually is gonna be something that people can relate to.”
And for those of you fortunate enough to have seen The Addams Family on Broadway, you’re in even more luck: “It’s gonna be different from the Broadway production because we’re doing the touring show, so I think that the improvements are fantastic.”
The Rancho Mirage Amphitheater truly is one of the most magical venues in the Valley, and it provides the perfect proscenium for this production. “It’s all open air, we’re all outside, we’re all in the dark,” Herrera said. “We are going to be using the elements; I’m just hoping that there’s a full moon.”
The lunar glow would ignite a phenomenon Herrera calls our “shared darkness,” adding: “This show, it actually embraces diversity.”
So, whether you’re an emo songster, a goth gay, or a next-level normie, Herrera is ready to welcome you to the Family freakshow. “Please come see this play. I guarantee you a really good time, believe me, because we’re having fun, so we’re hoping that translates out to the audience. … I can’t wait for it to be on its feet.”
Or in this case, it’s severed, stitched, twitchy, crawling hand. The Addams Family creeps its way to Rancho Mirage this month. Be there and beware!
Desert Theatricals presents The Addams Family, October 24-26 at the Rancho Mirage Amphitheatre. For tickets and more information, visit desert-theatricals.com