The Addams Family

The Addams Family is a musical comedy following the famous, well loved, spooky family as they navigate the blossoming relationship of Wednesday with a ‘normal’ boy, Lucas. It is a firm favourite of mine, having performed in, directed and stage-managed different productions of it in the last 10 years. I was really pleased to accept Rhondda Theatre Group’s invitation to their performance in what was my first visit to them.

The first thing I’d like to mention about this production is that the ensemble included members aged seven to seventy. It was great to see so many people on stage and having such a brilliant time. They were an incredibly well-drilled ensemble with excellent vocals and well performed choreography. The opening number ‘When You’re An Addams’ was a particular highlight for me and everyone in the cast and production team should be congratulated.

The set was well constructed and used very effectively by the cast and I really loved the very clever AV and projection work. It really added something to the production. Occasionally, the backing tracks overpowered the vocals and there were some sound issues with microphones cutting out.

Aaron Hart played the role of Gomez Addams. He led the performance well as the head of the family with great vocals and comic timing. His Spanish accent was well done, with only the occasional slip out of it.

Gomez’s wife, Morticia, was played by Holly Thompson. Holly gave a fantastic performance with strong acting, vocals and dancing. A genuine triple-threat. Well played.

Leah Davies was Wednesday Addams. Leah gave a powerful performance as the girl who falls in love with a ‘normal’ boy. She had a great voice and played the character well. I would have preferred a little more ‘light and shade’ in some of the musical numbers, however.

The role of Fester was played by Richard Quinn. I really enjoyed Richard’s portrayal of this larger-than-life character. He had brilliant character and energy and lovely vocals. It was a shame that he was the victim of some of the sound issues as he was excellent.

Alfie Ford was impressive as Pugsley Addams. He had good character and energy in his performance with vocals to match.

Wednesday’s love interest, Lucas Beineke, was played by Keelan Jones. I enjoyed Keelan’s performance. His vocals were excellent and I thought he had the character spot on.

Lucas’ parents, Mal and Alice, were played by Garry Sage and Kathryn Richards. The pair worked well together and showed great skill to show two very different sides to their characters as the show progressed.

Jo Wood was great as the wacky Grandma. She had the audience roaring with laughter with some of her lines and delivered a characterful performance.

Thomas Jones had a very tough job as Lurch. He played the part well and surprised the audience with excellent vocals at the end of the performance having previously only grunted throughout the evening!

In conclusion, this was a great production full of strong vocals, excellent character work and some superb technical touches. I had a brilliant evening and I look forward to returning in the future. Thank you RTG!

The views in this report are solely of the author.

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