The notoriously gloomy Wednesday Addams might have been happier as a Friday. Unless, of course, she was Friday the 13th, like the first night of Eldred Theater’s production of “The Addams Family.”

The darkly whimsical musical will be playing at Eldred Theater, directed by Department of Theater professor Jerrold Scott. The musical will follow the titular family as they follow up on the growing relationship between Wednesday Addams and Lucas Beineke, a boy from Ohio. The Addams family adheres to Wednesday’s wishes and tries to act normal for a night or more, both for the continued interaction with Lucas and to appease the more typical Beineke family, although the Addams Family struggles to do so, leading to some dark situations and strange consequences.

Regardless of your background knowledge on the source material and its various adaptations (or lack thereof), Scott says the musical will be “whimsically macabre, but not evil or twisted in any way.” Furthermore, in terms of the material, the “musical pulls more from the comic strip than the show or the movies,” but extensive knowledge of the source material is not required. The musical will also be dark like its nature, much like the comics and the movies.

“The Addams Family” has been an undertaking for Scott, who said that the musical will be the biggest show Eldred has recently produced. Due to the limited space offered by Eldred, the musical was handpicked by Scott not only because of the source material that inspired it or the strength of the original musical, but also for how it will complement the Eldred stage. According to Scott, “The Addams Family” is “more modern musical and more musically driven and character driven than most musicals.”

As a combination of darkly comic themes, acting and singing, “The Addams Family” does have a great deal going for it. The musical will premiere this weekend, with its opening night on Friday the 13th. According to Scott this was a coincidence, but it’s all the more reason to attend this show on its opening night.

Show: “The Addams Family”
Directed by: Jerrold Scott
Show Dates: Nov. 13-14 and Nov. 20-21, various times
Location: Eldred Theater
Price: $5