REVIEW: ‘The Addams Family’ ⭐⭐⭐⭐
- We Talk Theatre
- Jul 22, 2024
- 2 min read
Review from - July 17th, 2024 (Opening Night)
Pictured: The cast of THE ADDAMS FAMILY
Photo by Jorg Lehmann
“I’m just like any modern woman trying to have it all: loving husband, a family.
It’s just… I wish I had more time to seek out the dark forces and join their hellish crusade.”
– Morticia, ADDAMS FAMILY VALUES
Metropolitan Players have brought the unmistakeably kooky and creepy family unit to the SPCC stage in a production touted as Julie Black’s forty-eighth with the company. Andrew Lippa’s score musicalises the family’s stoic and maudlin philosophy in the face of the scariest, most powerful of things in this world: love.
Wednesday’s in love with Lucas, a gormless boy from a normal family; Gomez and Morticia love each other passionately (obviously); Fester is in love with, um, the moon; and Grandma loves weed and peyote, which makes for a very muddy target audience.
All of this comes to a head at a meet-the-folks dinner party, where it is revealed that Wednesday and Lucas intend to get married, the first secret that Gomez has ever kept from Morticia. Harmless musical numbers service the plot well enough, with the book scenes far more interesting and replete with jokes and gags.
Pictured: Rory Pollock as Gomez & Bec Kynaston as Morticia
Photo by Jorg Lehmann
The show dazzles primarily as a vehicle for its actors and their ability to milk the material for all it’s worth, with Rory Pollock’s Gomez and Bec Kynaston’s Morticia leaning into the THE KING OF QUEENS ball-and-chain sitcom of it all very well and both being in good voice the whole way through.
Amelia Accardi’s feisty Wednesday and Lachlan King’s Pugsley are the brightest jewels in the crown, handling their material incredibly competently for such young talent, and I anticipate great things in both their futures.
Pictured: Amelia Accardi as Wednesday & Lachlan King as Pugsley
Photo by Jorg Lehmann
Jace Pickard, as Lurch, is the best kind of silent achiever, committing to the choreography perfectly in character as the slow and lugubrious butler while never missing a beat, before bringing the show home with his rich baritone for the finale.
The ensemble similarly never lets us down, especially in dancing (choreography by Laura Dawson) – as a jilted bride ancestor to the family, Roeni Coates was the true focal point on the front lines of the opening number, and Bev Fewins and Jennifer Ellicott’s costumes are gorgeous yet functional at every turn.
While every step is taken to create high-quality set pieces and projections, and to ensure the vocal stylings of the cast are in good nick, the static environments and standard-issue backing tracks leave a little to be desired but don’t ultimately detract if you focus on, as I said, the tremendous talent singing, dancing, acting, and snapping their fingers after every famous “da dum da dum”.
Pictured: The Ensemble & Dom Lacey as Uncle Fester
Photo by Jorg Lehmann
If you’re looking for a good and inoffensive night out, THE ADDAMS FAMILY will certainly provide, but I caution readers (namely in this post-Jenna Ortega WEDNESDAY context) that some of the humour comes off weirdly adult in slant.
THE ADDAMS FAMILY closes Saturday, 27 July 2024: https://spcc.sales.ticketsearch.com/sales/salesevent/131099
Review by Jack Madden
Produced by We Talk Theatre
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