Starring… Dr. Archer!

What do you get when you mix a group of local dentists, everyone’s favourite kooky, spooky TV family, and a collection of catchy showtunes? You get a fun night out for a good cause, and a chance to see our own Dr. Jonathan Archer on stage in this spring’s All-Dentist Musical production of The Addams Family!

This is Dr. Archer’s second appearance with All-Dentist Musical; in 2017, he performed as part of the cast of Lucky Stiff. This time around, he’s taking on a lead role as Addams’ Family patriarch Gomez Addams. “Musicals are something I’ve always enjoyed watching,” Dr. Archer says, and the charity aspect of All-Dentist Musical was the push he needed to take his interest to the next level by getting on stage himself.

“Everyone should do some kind of volunteering,” says Dr. Archer, “It’s up to each of us how we choose to do that. This is one way I choose to do it!”

Each production of All-Dentist Musical raises money for local charities through sponsorships, a raffle, and ticket sales, along with the monetary contributions and volunteer hours donated by the cast and crew.

“For me, it’s been about 15 hours a week for about 4 months, plus a week out of the office for the performances,” Dr. Archer says of the time commitment involved with the production, where he works alongside the other local Winnipeg dentists involved. “You get to work with a lot of like-minded individuals – these are people who have no problem donating their time. It’s a great group of people who enjoy [the experience] and are passionate about it.” And sometimes, the dentists even get around to swapping dental stories and advice during breaks in rehearsals!

“Sometimes we do actually talk about dentistry! We might talk about a case and how others would treat it – patients do sometimes benefit!”  

So what can you expect from the company’s production of The Addams Family? A lot of laughs, to start, along with perhaps unexpected underlying themes of strong family values and inclusivity.

“Everyone thinks of The Addams Family as dark and spooky, but their family values are arguably the best going in our world today,” Dr. Archer explains. “This is a family that loves each other fully and completely. They don’t hold grudges, and they love their kids and want the best for them.”

In addition to family values, the family members and the show use humour and their trademark offbeat sensibility to underscore themes of inclusion and acceptance. “They take care of everyone – their grandmother, their uncle, Lurch. It’s a great example of inclusion and caring.”

This particular story will find Gomez and the rest of the family adjusting to Wednesday Addams’ first foray into the world of dating, and the introduction of her new “normal” boyfriend to the rest of the family. As you can imagine, hilarity ensues; read more about the show’s plot on the All-Dentist Musical website right here.

“It’s doing something that pushes you, that makes you uncomfortable,” says Dr. Archer when he thinks about why he decided to take the leap and audition for The Addams Family. “It’s about trying to master something that you’re not the best at, to push yourself and learn.”  

You can see all of Dr. Archer’s hard work pay off, as well as support local charities, by picking up tickets to one of the cast’s five performances happening May 1 – 5, 2019. Tickets are still available through the website right here, but don’t wait too long – the last All-Dentist Musical production sold out prior to showtime.

Congratulations and best of luck to Dr. Archer and the rest of the cast and crew of The Addams Family!