The Addams Family

‘The Addams Family’ is a musical comedy based on the cartoon characters created by Charles Addams. It is a fun musical full of wonderful eccentric characters, humorous dialogue and catchy musical numbers.

After hearing the familiar Addams Family theme tune and expected finger clicking, the curtain opened revealing a striking family tableau. The fabulous make up and costumes made a real impact.

The opening number ‘When You’re An Addams’ sung with great gusto introduced us to the alive and ‘undead’ members of this somewhat spooky, bizarre family.

This is essentially a love story where daughter Wednesday Addams has fallen for a boy from a ‘normal’ family and wants to introduce him to her anything but normal family and announce their engagement.

This mysterious, dysfunctional family was made up of some excellent caricatures. Sean Quinn was excellently cast as Gomez, head of the family. Torn between his loyalty to his daughter who has confided in him and his wife, he kept the pace of the dialogue moving along and maintained his Spanish accent throughout with clear diction. A natural actor with a real stage presence, his comic one liners were never lost. Vocally strong too, ‘Trapped’ ‘Happy/Sad’ and his duet with Morticia ‘Live Before We Die’ were memorable musical numbers.

Morticia, the matriarch of the family, was convincingly portrayed by Chanel Turner Ross. Statuesque and majestic she glided around the stage. ‘Just Around The Corner’ with the Ancestors was fabulous as was the ‘Tango de Amor’ which showed off her elegant dancing skills.

Lindsay MacLaren was a most impressive Wednesday Addams. With powerful vocals, her rendition of ‘Pulled’ was sung with passion and was one of the shows highlights. She confidently conveyed her pull between her love for Lucas and her family and her need for a normal life. Her younger brother Pugsley was played with real ‘joie de vivre’ by Kayleigh MacDonald certainly demonstrating how much he enjoyed being the annoying little brother who loved being tortured by his sister. The scenes with these two were very well played.

Eccentric Fester who has aspirations of loving and going to the moon is almost the narrator of the story and Ian McKenna interacted well with the cast and the audience. Light on his feet and with good comedic timing, his touching ‘The Moon and Me’ was most enjoyable with the Female Ancestors and Dancestors enhancing the number with eye catching choreography.

Sheona Dorrian was a most animated Grandma of this bizarre family with her almost grotesque facial expressions and wily movement. Lurch the butler says nothing, but Dom Sugrue was an imposing character who grunted impressively throughout.

The so called ‘normal’ Beineke family are invited to dinner so that the two families can hopefully share the good news of Wednesday’s and Lucas’ engagement. However, this is not to be and chaos ensues at the dinner table. Sarah-Louise Donnelly gave a sparkling portrayal as mum Alice, a naive housewife constantly spouting her poetry. When she mistakenly drinks the potion during ‘the game’ at the dinner table the transition from the timid to the wild Alice was fantastic. ‘Full Disclosure’ and ‘Waiting’ were superbly delivered. Husband Mal was well characterised by Russell Coid, totally bemused at what was happening with this most unconventional family he was visiting. Their son Lucas , who appeared to be a normal young man in love, prepared to risk his life  to show his love, was played emotionally and sympathetically by Kieran Robson Renner. The ‘Crazier Than You’ quartet was quite dynamic.

This excellent line up of principal characters was strongly supported by a family of Ancestors and Dancestors whose ensemble singing was first class. Excellent use was made of the ensemble as they moved props and furniture ensuring that the production flowed seamlessly. Choreography was imaginative and ambitious but executed by everyone with precision and confidence. Costumes were outstanding especially the featured Ancestors who had paid great attention to detail. The use of the split-level stage and effective lighting worked extremely well.

This was an excellent production with a very high standard of singing and acting by all on stage. The orchestra was splendid and the balance between the stage and the pit spot on.

‘Th Addams Family’ is undoubtedly a fun show full of comedy and the ‘one liners’ were never missed or thrown away. An uplifting production in every way which was thoroughly enjoyed by both the cast and a most appreciative audience. So good to see the HOUSE FULL outside too.

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