PRINCE ALBERT — For the first time in several years, Carlton Comprehensive Public High School will be presenting a musical production.
Carlton will present The Addams Family Musical on May 1-3. The play is directed by Kayleigh Skomorowski and features Grade 12 students Katelynn Tait as Alice Benike and Alex Rensberry as Pugsley Addams.
Tait said this is the first musical to be produced since former drama teacher Dave Zulkoskey retired, and her first time acting.
“We are learning,” Tait said. “It is going very well, all things considered. I'm really proud with the way that things are turning out.”
Rensberry, who is a veteran of the Broadway North stage, has a similar view.
“It's been a little rocky, but I think that we have done well, especially with not having done shows with professional teachers since before 2020,” she explained.
The Addams Family is a musical comedy with music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa. The show is based on characters created by Charles Addams in his cartoons in The New Yorker and has been featured in movies and on television.
Rensberry said she appreciates the mix of new and old performers involved in the Carlton stage production.
“(It’s) a lovely cast,” she said. “We have a lot of new people but also a lot of former actors from Broadway North who are really helping lead us, and even some of the newer actors who are really helping have really come into the role.”
Rensberry has been part of pop culturally significant productions as part of Broadway North. She said producing a play is entertaining.
Tait is enjoying the art of acting for the first time in a production.
"I've never acted before, but I really enjoy it and I want to pick it up as a hobby,” she explained. “It's cool to be able to like wear someone else's skin for a little while.”
The play features a large cast and crew. Tait said managing such a large production is a challenge they’re up for.
"We do have a fairly large cast. I'm sure Miss Skomorowski would want more, but I think that we still have a fairly big cast. We have a fairly good tech crew. We have like eight people on tech, and it's all students. It's a completely student-run show with the exception of Miss Skomorowski's direction and supervision, and she is great at what she does.”
Tait said it was special to be part of the first Carlton musical production in many years.
"It's very exciting, (and) lots of fun. (There are) Lots of laughs backstage, probably when we shouldn't be laughing,” she said.
The cast and crew were busy doing their first tech and dress run-through before Easter. Tait said they are confident audiences will enjoy the show.
“I am pretty confident in the product,” she said. “No performance is ever perfect, and that's the beauty of theatre. That's the beauty of art.. (It’s) completely subjective, but I really, really think that we've come a long way.
“I've seen a lot of growth in both the principal roles and the ensemble, and I'm really, really proud of the way this has turned out.”
Rensberry is also confident in the production.
"Obviously, it's going to be difficult just because it's our first musical and our first performance here in a very long time, and we have a lot of people who have never done this before,” she said. “Under the circumstances, I think we're doing really well. I think there's always room for improvement, but still again, under the circumstances (we’re) doing quite well.”
Skomorowski said she expected a few challenges with such a large production. The list includes using the Carlton Cafetorium and setting up technical aspects like microphones.
“We've never done anything like this in this space—lights and sound and trying to make all of that work. Plus, it’s a shared space in the school. It's definitely not come without its challenges, but being where we're at like two weeks out from the show now and being able to have a light tech rehearsal where we are able to work with some sound and play around with some lighting and stuff like that, this is a good spot to be in.”
Skomorowski decided to bring back the musical because she’s done them before and enjoys it.
"This is my first year here at Carlton, and I've just always done musicals everywhere I've been,” she explained. “It was just, to me, a natural thing to do.
"When it comes to live performance with drama, we haven't had anything here in the school for quite a while, like since before COVID, so there was a void to be filled in all those areas.”
The challenge is the large production was unavoidable, according to Skomorowski.
"When you talk about high school musicals, there's not really a way to scale back and still do it well,” Skomorowski said.
The director and cast are also hopeful that this starts a tradition of musical productions at Carlton.
"I hope so, and I can't wait to see them all,” Tait said,
“I hope we inspire some,” Rensberry said.
"I am thrilled with the amount of kids that came out this year, but I'm hoping that we have to make lots of cuts next year”, Skomorowski said.
The cast members thanked some other people for making the production possible.
"Thanks to the sponsors, that's a huge one. This would actually not be possible at all without them, and we wouldn't have the facility to be able to do this without them,” Tait said.
"(I want to thank) The teachers, the teachers that helped us as we have a couple volunteers, teachers who are helping, like, make posters, make promo bits,” Rensberry said.
The Addams Family Musical is at the Carlton Cafetorium on May 1-3 at 7 p.m. Tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for children and are available at the Carlton general office.
