The Addams Family

I was interested to see how The Addams Family worked on stage as I chose not to see it on Broadway, despite having had the opportunity, simply because so many other shows held more appeal when I was there during its run.
The story follows the usual - boy meets girl, they fall in love and wind up having generations of dead ancestors rise from the grave to ensure that they tie the knot. Well maybe not such a usual plot line, but very analogous to so many romantic musical comedies doing the circuit. In that respect The Addams Family [A New Musical Comedy] is not so new at all and for me lacks the belly laughs found in the best of the genre.
Kevin Stuart [Director] and his team were less than predictable with their treatment, providing a varied set of characters who deviated from the expected stereotypes.
The professional Orchestra, conducted by MD Jamie Cordell, was balanced and delivered the score with verve and conviction, nicely underpinning the vocal performances while never upstaging them.
The company all seemed to enjoy getting into their various absurd characters. The principal cast were on the whole able, but special mention must go to Ziggi Szafranski who was a fitting Gomez. The vocal highlight came in the form of Lucas Beineke as Jon Bingham. However the two stand out performances for me were Jane Hogg as a fabulously confident Morticia and Chris Whitebread as such a lovable Uncle Fester, who had the best song in the show 'The Moon and Me' as well as the strongest character delivery.
However I found the over use of the mid-stage black curtains, for seemingly no apparent reason at times, a frequent distraction and spoiled some fabulous lighting by Will Perkins.
The production highlight came from Shash Rault, whose inventive choreography was outstanding, not only in design but in delivery. This cast had clearly worked hard on some beautiful moves and executed them adroitly.

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