The Addams Family

The Addams family has music and lyrics written by Andrew Lipper from a book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice and is based on characters created by Charles Addams from the well-known television series and films of the same name. This was a very entertaining and enjoyable production from SONG, directed by Karen Edge with musical direction by Charles Moss and choreography from Victoria Harrocks. The young cast who were probably too young to have seen the original television show, entertained us with excellent portrayals of the characters that we know and love with a maturity that belied their age. Lucas Frost gave us a stylish betrayal of Gomez Addams while Charlotte Webster was serene and gothic as his wife Morticia, they made an excellent strong central couple both showing off their versatility and talent, making good use of the stage area while singing and acting very well. There was an outstanding comedic performance from Matthew Higginson as Uncle Fester, who had a great rapport with the audience and he appeared to enjoy playing this character. Charlie Jasmine Edge gave a good strong performance as Wednesday Addams singing and acting very well and was well complimented by Tom McMullan who gave a very good performance in his role of Wednesday’s fiancé Lucas Beineke. Lucas’s father Mal Beineke was played by Cameron Coakley who produced a good mature characterisation and Molly Wilkinson as his mother Alice sang and acted very well giving an excellent rendition of the song 'waiting'. Other very enjoyable performances who also sang and acted very well came from Poppy Coyle as Pugsley Addams, Natasha Major as Grandma Addams and Ryan Harrison as Lurch. The principal cast were very well supported by the chorus of ancestors who each produced a different character and performed the choreography by Victoria Harrocks with loads of energy and enthusiasm as well as singing confidently. The action and pace of the show was just right, and American accents were good, but a few of the cast did speak a little fast at times making it a little hard to hear their words, however on the whole diction and clarity of words were generally more than satisfactory and the plot could be followed easily. The band was led by Musical Director Charles Moss, they played very well and supported the cast expertly at just the right level of sound.

There was one basic stage set consisting of a doorway and stairs which was transformed into the different scenes and locations needed by the use of various pieces of furniture and props which along with lighting and sound was very effective. The costumes were excellent adding to the feel and the success of the production, it was obvious allot of thought and hard work had gone into making these costume and getting them just right.

Congratulations to Director Karen Edge and to everyone involved in this very enjoyable production, thank you very much for inviting us we had a lovely evening.

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