Everyone’s favourite kooky family have moved into the New Theatre, Cardiff as the musical comedy returns to the stage for its second UK tour.
This particular performance is brought to you by the writers of multi award-winning Jersey Boys, with music and lyrics by the Tony Award nominated Andrew Lippa.
It is rare in theatre productions for the set to contribute so much, but this is exactly what Diego Pitarch’s production design does. Audiences are immediately transported into The Addams Family mansion and it’s the finishing touches such as the painted walls and artwork (pay close attention to those) that really put the kooky in this family.
The selected use of colours and the individuality of costumes that are reflective of each character’s personality, really brings them to life. It was also fantastic to see that this production is accompanied by a live orchestra, which really brings the performance and stage effects to life.
In this family tale, we learn that Wednesday Addams (Kingsley Morton), the ultimate princess of darkness, is all grown up and has a shocking secret that only Gomez (Cameron Blakely) knows. She’s fallen in love with a sweet, smart young man from a respectable ‘normal’ family – one you might say is far different from her own.
As the young couple’s love grows, the Beineke family plan to meet for dinner with the Addams’ playing host. What could possibly go wrong eh?
Sensing a change in the family’s traditions, Pugsley (Grant McIntyre) comes up with a plan aided by grandma Addams (Valda Aviks) to give Wednesday a potion. Unfortunately or fortunately, however you decide to look at it, it doesn’t reach its intended target with hilarious consequences.
Dinner is served by the family’s butler Lurch (Dickon Gough), but don’t expect him to say much. Instead, expect his quieter mannered, slow moving behaviour to creep you out – with the odd grunt here and there of course. The family jester and brother of Gomez, aka. Uncle Fester (Scott Paige) is not short of a line or two of his own, with his quick wit and quirky behaviour grabbing the attention of audiences.
The production stars Joanne Clifton (Strictly Come Dancing and The Rocky Horror Show) as Morticia Addams, so expect a few dance moves with Cameron Blakely as her loving husband Gomez Addams. After all, what Addams doesn’t love a good dance? On stage, the two have a powerful chemistry and combined with their quirky and sometimes difficult to pronounce word combos, they pull it off extremely well. You won’t catch us trying to repeat these!
The Beineke family is made up of Sean Kingsley as Mal Beineke, Kara Lane as Alice Beineke and Ahmed Hamad as Lucas Beineke. Every family has their own secrets and the Beineke’s are no different, will their dark and deepest desires be revealed?
The Addams Family, A Musical Comedy, is directed by Matthew White, with choreography by Alistair David and orchestrations by Richard Beadle, lighting design by Ben Cracknell, sound design by Richard Brooker and casting by Jane Deitch. Book is by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, and music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa, based on the characters created by Charles Addams.
The Addams Family musical offers fun for all the family and is full of laugh out loud comedy for all-ages. The vocals of the entire cast are powerful, rich in tone and highly emotive, with each bringing their own uniqueness to their storylines.
Join them, Uncle Fester, Lurch, Pugsley and more for a heart-warming story of love, family and friendship…with a twist!
The Addams Family Musical Comedy is currently showing at the New Theatre Cardiff until Saturday, 20 November. Find out more and book tickets here.
