The Adams Family

With a change of name (previously The Garrick Singers) comes a change in direction for this company – from more traditional musicals to more modern ones. The show includes all the well-loved characters from the TV series along with the introduction of the “normal” Beineke family. This was a perfect choice for this company allowing it to showcase both its musical and comedy strengths. Iain McKenzie was superb as Gomez the patriarch of the family with his rich voice shown to its best in numbers such as “What If” and “Happy/Sad”. His facial expressions as he was torn between loyalty to his wife and the love for his daughter were priceless. Equally superb was Kirsty Gordon as the matriarch Morticia, elegant and sexy in her black dresses. Her delivery of one-line putdowns to the various members of her family were hilarious. Rosanna Burton, playing their feisty daughter Wednesday, had a good singing voice and good strong stage presence and worked well with Shaun Cowan as Lucas Beineke her “normal” boyfriend who also gave a strong performance.  Much of the laughter in the piece was engendered by Uncle Fester, played by Andy Hurst, in his attempts to woo the Moon and by Pugsley, played by the excellent Abbie McGoran, in his attempts to thwart his sister’s romance. Derek Brown and Kerry Russell, as Lucas’s parents Mal and Alice, also brought about much laughter – especially Alice in the number “Full Disclosure” while under the influence of a truth drink! Strong support was given by Kay Smith as Grandma and John F Kennedy as a towering Lurch. The chorus of Ancestors kept to their characters and sang and moved well. Music was provided by a mixture of backing tracks and piano, in the hands of sound engineer Ruairidh Gollen and pianist Mairi Mackenzie, and worked well. The sets and costumes were all appropriate to the period and characters and good use was made of the stage to avoid any long scene changes. Well done all at ERMT for a most enjoyable evening.

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