The Addams Family

The Addams Family a musical, staged/performed by students from Cowley International College on Saturday, 25th October, 2025 at Cowley International College, Hard Lane, St. Helens.

When you hear those ‘opening notes’, that double finger snap’ ... you just know, why, because... ‘they’re creepy and they're kooky, mysterious and spooky, they're all together kooky it’s The Addams Family’!  The Addams Family became popular in the early 1960’s due to the TV Series of the same name. This musical interpretation, taken from a book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice with music by Andrew Lippa, introduces us to the upside-down world of The Addams’s, where it’s ‘sad to be happy’, to ‘feel pain is to feel joy’ and death and suffering are the stuff of dreams!  Having lived by their unique values for hundreds of years ... Gomez & Morticia, the patriarch and matriarch of the clan, would be only too happy to continue living that way, that is, until their dark, macabre, beloved daughter ‘Wednesday’, now turning eighteen, falls in love with an ‘ordinary boy’ - ‘Lucas Beineke’, a sweet, smart respectable boy from a normal Ohio family. To make matters worse, Wednesday has invited the entire ‘Beineke Family’ to their home for dinner, where secrets are disclosed, relationships tested and where ‘The Addams’s must face up to the one thing they’ve avoided for generations: CHANGE!

Production Team ... Sam Westhead (Director), Corey Gerrard (Musical Director) and Claire Radford (Choreographer) were the ones tasked with bringing this musical comedy to stage and what a job they did!  When you watch a stage production that stems from any well-known, well-loved TV show or film… it’s only natural, if your audience has grown up with these characters, that they will have expectations … so casting and characterisation is vital, but that never became an issue here at Cowley.  Casting was great, characters believable, recognisable, not identical (that’s never going to happen), so be ever so proud Sam, great insight! Corey led his nine-piece orchestra, who were ‘shoe-horned’ into the smallest of space behind the stage, with great aplomb! Supported every singer ever so well, never overpowering, always supporting. Claire’s choreo was impressive! The opening number ‘When You’re an Addams’ set the tone for the entire evening, full of energy and life, but the ‘choreo’ highlight for me had to be Gomez and Morticia’s ‘Tango De Amor’ dance which we’ll talk more about later.  Be proud you three ... great job!
 

The Cast... just over sixty students took to the stage, all looking excited, engaged and ready for the spooky challenges that lay ahead. Second performance of the day and their final one of the run... did they looked jaded... hardly! They danced, sang and worked their socks off creating exciting and energy driven performances! Some ‘principal roles’ were shared, but I will only make comment on the students I saw, although I’ll share details of both where that occurs... ‘Gomez’ was played by just Dulcie Ashton; ‘Morticia’ – Betty Prescott (shared - Ruby Westwood); ‘Wednesday’ – Darcy Threlfall (shared - Kitty Kretay); ‘Pugsley’ – Jess Roberts (shared - Archie Parry); ‘Uncle Fester’ - Luke Atherton; ‘Grandma’ – Amelia Upton (shared – Olivia Upton); ‘Lurch’ played by Alfie Kretay (shared Corey Winstanley) ; ‘Lucas Beineke’ – Oscar Rowley (shared – Lucas Bond); James Rathbone-Britch - ‘Mal Beineke’; Alice Beineke - Aimee Atherton (shared – Chloe Kewley). LEAD ANCESTORS: ‘Saloon Girl’ – Thauane Dantas Soares; ‘Mary Antoinette’ - Boo Gillespie; ‘Ganster’s Wife’ – Codie Start; ‘Ballerina’ – Ruby Anders; ‘Maid’ - Myley May Morris; ‘Gangster’ - Katie Boylan; ‘Bride’ – Hattie Edwards; Cavewomen – Lily Carroll; ‘Soldier’ – Natalie Ford.  SENIOR ANCESTORS: ‘Flight Attendant’– Lily Mae Leyland; ‘Pilot’ – Bethany Carr; ‘Sailor’ – Chloe Kinder, ‘Flapper Girls’ – Ella Potter and Ellie Forsyth.  JUNIOR ANCESTORS: ‘Priest’ – Jack Fairhurst; ‘Doctor’ – Lesley Griffiths; ‘Nun’ – Maisie Evans-Smith; ‘Cleopatra’ – Luiza Cirillo Avila; Prisoner – Neena Rigby; Nurse – Ruby Haworth; Henry the 8th – Ben Frair; Suffragette’s – Maggie-Mae Threlfall & Isobel Heyes; Ballerinas – Harlie Heaton & Frankie Heaton.  
I am going to select a Showstopper and a few favourite characters, these are MY choices, I expect you’ll have your own, but these are mine... MY Showstopper was the ever so impressive Dulcie Ashton who took on the role of ‘Gomez’, a role she just made her
own from the start! From first entrance to final bow, Dulcie became ‘Gomez’.  Totally believable, her accent, diction, mannerisms, facial expressions were perfect. Blessed with a great singing voice... her renditions of all her songs were excellent. Loved, loved, loved Gomez’s scenes with Morticia, so intimate, so real, so believable be proud Dulcie amazing! But, for Gomez to shine, you really do have to have a believable ‘Morticia’ by his side and that we had, portrayed ever so well by Betty Prescott. Betty looking elegant in ‘morbid black’; she really was the perfect partner for Dulcie! They had this intimate chemistry from the start! What I couldn’t get out of my ‘head’ was Betty’s hand placements... OMG they just spoke volumes, placed on her forearms, ‘intimate’ yet ‘aloof’, ‘sensual’ yet ‘formal’, she just reminded me of Carolyn Jones from the TV series, which is high praise indeed! But as I touched on above ... their dance routine to ‘Tango De Amor’ was their highlight together and possibly the highlight of the entire show for me! Unbelievable movement, effortless, intimate, sensual, energy driven and Betty’s ‘high kick’ (sorry for the lack of a more technical term) was unforgettable, be ever so proud Betty, be ever so proud both of you! Luke Atherton gave us another great character in the form of the ‘Uncle Fester’. Luke, blended into the character with great feeling and great comic timing which is essential if you are to create this quirky, sweet, cartoonish character who’s in love with ‘The Moon’. I enjoyed Luke’s rendition of ‘The Moon and Me’. I could so easily carry on, but with so many good characters created, it’s difficult to start saying someone was better than someone else without doing an injustice, although I will just say, before closing this section, that I thought all the Ancestors, ‘lead, seniors + juniors’ did a fabulous job supporting the principles, great singing and great dancing... be very proud each and all!

Stage/Set/Tech... a single set, obtained from ‘The Little Shop of Hires’, was used throughout. With a smallish stage, this set was ideal, offering many options/variations which were used ever so well. Slick, quiet, efficient changes by the cast and crew allowed this production to flow with ease! Stage Management Team included Charlotte Carroll, Lydia Butler and Marcella Wroe, with Jimmy Boardman and Danny Guest overseeing Set Construction, Mike Haxby (Sound)

The Orchestra under the guidance of Corey Gerrad, was excellent and supported everyone ever so well. The Orchestra included Corey (Keys1); Jonathan Clayton (Keys); Abi Clark (Reed1); Niamh Boland (Reed2); Tony Armistead (Trumpet): Paul Sanderson/Max Holden (Guitar); Dave Semans (Bass) & Jonathan Rowlands (Drums/Percussion) ... wonderful supportive sound!

Costumes were fabulous, sourced and or created by the cast themselves! The college gave the cast/students a show description and a brief outline of the vision for the show. The reason/aim for that was to try and involve all the students in all aspects of bringing a musical to stage. Hair/Makeup are two more key ingredient when staging a show... the cast were also asked to ‘take responsibility’ for doing their own!  This was the first time the college had considered challenging pupils in this way...
did it work? OMG yes!  I got chance to meet and speak informally with a number of cast members (principal and ensemble members) after to the show ... when I asked them about costumes, hair and make-up... honestly, the pride emanating from them all, was tangible! They were buzzing, not only about the show but about ‘their efforts’ in achieving the challenges set for them as mentioned above and rightly so, cos they’d done a marvellous job!  Congrats Cowley... great idea, worked ever so well and can only be a ‘positive’ for their progression!

There was no doubt whatsoever that EVERYONE on stage had had the time of their young lives and I really do think the reason for that was far more than just them performing!  As I said above, you could see and feel the pride as well as their enjoyment in what they’d achieved ... be very proud Cowley, carry on doing what you did... worked ever so well! Thanks for the invite, sorry for the panic beforehand, but it all worked out in the end. Great show, look forward to seeing you all again very soon!

Stay Safe – Keep Well
Stronger together
Jim Briscoe
NODA NW – District 6 Rep

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