The Addams Family

This was my first visit to “St John Rigby College” to see their production of the quirky musical “The Addams Family” with music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa from a book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice and based on the television program of the same name. 

On arrival in the auditorium there was an excellent atmospheric open set which made efficient use of the stage area transporting us into the eerie world of The Addams Family, a world of Ghouls, Ghost and all things that go bump in the night.

Directed by David Wall this was a very enjoyable evening’s entertainment, the cast appeared to be enjoying themselves immensely, creating some wonderful quirky characters and producing some very good performances, which included Alistair Davies as the head of the family Gomez Addams and Sarah Marrow as his dour wife Morticia Addams, they worked together well producing two strong central characters and making a believable couple, they also had very good singing voices. Amber Lowe was able to portray very well the conflict of Wednesday Addams torn, between her extra ordinary family and wanting to be with her "normal “boyfriend Lucas Beineke played by Michael Leggett who complimented Amber very well. Jamie Wooding was suitably mischievousness as Wednesday's torcher  loving  brother Pugsley Adams while Brandon Whelan gave a very  comical and likable performance as Uncle Fester, his rendition of the song  "The moon and me “accompanied by the ancestors was a joy to listen to and well received by the audience with whom he  also had a good rapport .Other excellent performances were given by Grace McCaul-Lowe as an even more eccentric Grandma Addams and Conor Feste as the  non-smiling slow walking Lurch. The principle cast are completed by Lucas’s parents Mal and Alice Beineke arguably the “normal” family but who also had their own eccentricities, these roles were played very well by Tom Williams and Emily Priestley, who also made a strong believable couple. The chorus of ancestors were onstage during the majority of the performance and they sang and supported the principal cast very well which added to the success of the show. Their positioning on stage was very effective meaning they were a major part of the proceedings without being intrusive. The pace of the show was just right and generally diction, clarity of words and American accents were very good meaning the action and story could be followed easily, although there was the occasional loss of sound from the microphones. Vocally all the performers sang very well and diction was also very good during all musical numbers. The orchestra of predominately young students led by musical director David Wall. played excellently at just the right level of sound and were a great support to the cast.
 
Well done to the set builders and all the stage and technical crew who did a great job creating an excellent platform for the cast to work on, who along with costumes and makeup which were well thought out and just right for the production and probably helped the actors with their characterizations, enhanced and played a major role in the success of this production.

Congratulations to Director/Musical Director David Wall and to all involved in this outstanding entertaining show, thank you for inviting us we look forward to seeing you again for your next production.

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