The Addams Family - the Musical

With some knowledge of the TV series on which this show is based, I had not expected this musical version to be a story about love.  But, after the ghoulish family’s daughter, Wednesday, declares her wish to marry a boy from a normal, more respectable family, we gradually learn more about parental relationships in both families.  We also meet a troublesome little brother, a grandma (nobody seems to know from which side of the family) and various ancestors in an entertaining and often amusing show.

There is also Wednesday’s uncle, Fester and Nick Sephton in this role deserves first mention for sticking to his task despite a leg injury apparently incurred at one of the final rehearsals.  Although this caused him to sit out the entire show seated stage right, somehow this did not seem out of place as he quickly established a relationship with the audience and kept his avuncular eyes on all that happened on stage. His love song to the moon was one of the memorable scenes and, although his injury made his journey there a little less spectacular than originally planned, we were able to share his thrill at the achievement, especially with the clever video showing his landing.

It would be wrong to single out other principals as they were all extremely well cast and gave excellent performances.  I am sure Nia Hopkins (Wednesday) is a much less difficult character in real life and so her  portrayal of the rather rebellious, crossbow carrying teenager necessitated use of every scrap of her undoubted acting ability.  In any event, she gave a great performance in this role. So too did Paul Forsberg as her sympathetic father and he had some excellent scenes with both daughter and wife, the dreaded Morticia, well played by Catherine Hopkins. He has the task of delivering several of the songs, not to mention some occasional asides to the audience (“2,3,4 things”), a little reminiscent of Tevye in “Fiddler”.  To reflect his Spanish ancestry, much of the music has a Latin rhythm and the tango involving all three couples was a highlight.

Pam Barker and Adam Stewart brought some respectability in the form of the Beineke parents, as did Henry Farnington as their son, Lucas, besotted by his love of Wednesday, even to the extent of risking the William Tell trick involving apple and crossbow, despite the archer being blindfolded.  Other members of the Addams family were well played by Sue Riley as the grandma and Liam Edwards as the mischievous little brother, Pugsley, not to mention the straw-covered Cousin Itt (Alice Richmond Halliwell), small in stature, silently observing much of the action. Jim Bower as Lurch also kept his silence for most of the time but finally revealed a singing voice for which it had been worth waiting.

A group of ancestors is let loose at the start during the family’s visit to the graveyard and they are prevented from returning so that they can help with the immediate problem involving Wednesday. The ten of them sported a variety of excellent costumes carefully put together by Enid Doyle to reflect their previous lives and were effectively used to help in many of the scenes. Earlier this year we saw much more of Emily Rockliff in this group’s production of “Calendar Girls” but this time as Thing it was only her hand which made an occasional appearance.                             

Director and Musical Director were making their respective debuts in these essential roles and both carried them off with great success. Nicki Allan led a six-piece band which made a good sound and provided excellent support without ever overpowering those on stage whilst Sarah Rivers had clearly worked hard with the cast, often with those afore-mentioned Latin rhythms, to produce an entertaining show. The rather macabre appearance of so many characters was a tribute to those responsible for make-up.   

This was an ideal choice for a show which opened on Hallowe’en night and, on the night when I attended, we were blessed with sight of an almost full moon, the love of Fester’s life as, after what had seemed a lengthy absence because of storms of various names and heavy cloud, it made its appearance as if in sympathy with his injury.  I do hope he caught a glimpse as he arrived at and left the venue.         

      

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