The Addams Family School Edition

In the kooky, upside-down world of the Addams Family, to be sad is to be happy, to feel pain is to feel joy, and death and suffering are the stuff of their dreams. They have lived by their unique values for hundreds of years and Gomez and Morticia, the patriarch and matriarch of the clan, would be only too happy to continue living that way. Their dark, macabre, beloved daughter Wednesday, however, is now eighteen and ready for a life of her own. She has fallen in love with Lucas Beineke, a  smart boy from a normal, respectable Ohio family — the most un-Addams sounding person one could be! And to make matters worse, she has invited the Beinekes to their home for dinner. In one fateful night, secrets are disclosed, relationships are tested, and the Addams family must face up to the one horrible thing they’ve managed to avoid for generations: change.

Before taking our seats we were met with spooky cobwebs and spiders around the foyer and leading to the auditorium, which got us in the mood. A great looking open set provided the background to a good opening company number ‘When You’re an Addams’, when we first meet the ancestors with some excellent spooky costumes all with wigs and splendid make up.

‘Gomez’ played by Daniel Chorley gave a very positive performance and you could feel his anxiety whilst keeping a secret from ‘Morticia’ (that daughter Wednesday was to be engaged to Lucas) whilst singing ‘Wednesday’s Growing up / Trapped’.  Ellen Fearnley made an effortless alluring ‘Morticia’ and sang very well throughout, particularly in ‘Secrets’. ‘Pugsley’ played by Arabella Ellis-Evans on the night I attended, also had a good voice and characterisation, enjoying any punishment dished out at the hand of his sister ‘Wednesday’ played convincingly by Phoebe Hall. Pheobe was one of the original members of Lollipop six years ago and this was her last show which gave an opportunity to demonstrate how much she has progressed over this time. I particularly liked ‘Pulled’ (in a new direction) sung by Phoebe and Arabella.

At the matinee performance, NODA was represented by Emma Laing the Region’s Youth Co-ordinator who noted that on that occasion two roles were played by others. Emma commented; “I had the pleasure of seeing Isabelle Smart perform on the Saturday as ‘Wednesday Addams’ and she did a fantastic job. Her vocals were spot on and she had perfected the facial expressions I expected from a ‘Wednesday Addams’. I also saw Rose Brown performing as ‘Pugsley Addams’ and despite a small wardrobe malfunction, she did wonderfully and did not let it faze her. She carried on with the performance and had me chuckling throughout.”

Both ‘Fester’ (Hollie Williams) and ‘Grandma (Jessica Lewis) – loved the wild hair – gave good expressive performances and these were matched by the ‘Beineke’ family; ‘Lucas’ (Angel Goodwin), ‘Mal’ (Ryan Simcock) and ‘Alice’ (Amelie Reeves). Amelie has a good voice and surprised us all by ending up lying full length on the dinner table after participating in the Addams’ traditional ‘Game’. The company number ‘Full Disclosure’ rounds off Act 1 on a high. Good support too from Evie Clarke as ‘Lurch’ whose normal means of communication was a grunt, but eventually proved capable of more!

Act 2 has some great musical numbers including ‘Just Around the Corner’ led with poise by ‘Morticia’, ‘Happy Sad’ was well handled by ‘Gomez’ with ‘Wednesday’, and ‘Gomez and ‘Morticia‘ worked well together with ‘Let’s Live Before We die’.

There was some challenging music for some of the younger ones and some softer accompaniment at times may have been helpful, but I was impressed by the principals in particular who watched the MD when necessary. The scene changes were carried out swiftly and quietly. It’s not often a performance is interrupted by the fire alarm, when the audience were asked to leave until the fire service gave the all clear – but that was the case just before the finale. That didn’t prevent the company when restarting, from some snappy dancing in the final company number ‘Move Toward the Darkness’.

Congratulations to Director Holly Fields and all involved on and off stage.

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