The Addams Family

The Addams Family is a musical comedy based on the much-loved characters from the well-known TV series.  The story centres around Wednesday Addams, who falls in love with a ‘normal’ boy, and her attempts to conceal the fact she is getting married from her mother, with a little help from other members of the family, particularly her father, Gomez.  It is a musical I am very fond of, having played Gomez twice, as well as stage managing and directing a NODA award winning production of it.  

I had a late call from fellow regional representative, Dianne Hayes, to attend the production as she had fallen ill and I was pleased to visit Caldicot School for Caldicot Musical Society’s version of this production, in their centenary year.  A full house, seated in a ‘cabaret style’ table setting came out on Halloween – the perfect night to put on this show!  Some audience members were even dressed up!

By not using a traditional theatre venue, the society were able to maximise playing space within the school hall and action took place all around the audience members as well as on the main stage and two further areas to extend the space available.

Scenery was well constructed and well built.  This is the third time I’ve seen this set used in different iterations and it is lovely to see societies within the area working together to recycle sets, props and costumes.

Costumes were good and ensemble ‘ancestors’ all had a distinct character.  The ensemble makeup was well done, with everyone looking suitably ‘dead’.

The ‘normal’ parents, Mal and Alice, were played by Andy Rigden and Jo Postle.  They worked well together and had nice characters.  I particularly liked Jo’s transition of character in ‘Waiting’.

Mike Probert as Lurch gave a solid, but silent performance until the final number of the show.  He did a good job as the giant butler.

Pugsley Addams was played by Angharad Elson.  Angharad gave a performance that was full of energy and sang Pugsley’s version of ‘What if?’ very nicely.  On occasion, the high energy nature of the performance meant that diction was an issue in the speaking bits.

Nick Skinner as Fester really got on top of the character.  He delivered a good performance.

Shannon Bradbury and Carl Fielding-Burnett played Wednesday Addams and her love interest, Lucas Beineke.  The pair worked well together with characters that were well suited to their roles.  Occasionally, their accents did slip back to their regional ones from their American characters.  Both sang well in the vocal numbers.

As Gomez, Jason Bradbury did a nice job.  He sang well and had good facial expressions throughout the piece.   The Spanish accent is a very difficult one to master and maintain and Jason coped well with this challenge, keeping it going for the vast majority of the production.

Laura Mitchell was a touch of class as Morticia.  I was expecting good things having nominated her for a NODA award following my visit to Guys and Dolls last year and I wasn’t disappointed this time round.  She had great character and sang and moved well.  

Without doubt, the performance of the night came from Deb Hughes as Grandma.  Deb gave an utterly fantastic performance.  Superb character, brilliant delivery.  Simply wonderful.

Choreography was basic but well done by all and the ensemble singing was very good and well drilled.  Being in close proximity to a lot of the ensemble for large parts of the show, I can vouch for each of them knowing their harmonies, particularly the caveman who was spot on!

There were some instances where direction and continuity didn’t quite work for me.  The ‘ancestors’ could not gain entry to the locked crypt as per the story, but all made their way through it during the scene change.  Pugsley’s exit into the final scene felt clunky and the lights had come up on stage as the character walked through the next scene and the use of a gym ball as the moon in ‘The Moon and Me’ was a little odd, in my opinion.

The society opted for backing tracks as opposed to a live band.  This can make timing of underscored script and entries into songs difficult and there were several instances of lost timing and missed entries as well as lots of lines of script feeling rushed, meaning the comedy of the piece was lost in these instances.  I appreciate that it’s difficult to balance the cost and space saving of not having a live band but I do feel like some of the magic and subtlety is lost by not having one.

As always, my comments are designed to be constructive and give guidance for future productions.  I feel it is our job as representatives of NODA to promote the highest possible standards of amateur theatre.

My congratulations to all on a wonderfully spooky evening and I wish you all the best for the future.  

 

The views in this report are solely of the author.

 

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