From the beginning of Act One, Kate Woodman‘s The Addams Family sets a high bar from which it doesn’t falter through to the end of Act Two. Perfectly balanced between comedy and more serious emotional moments, this production sets its tone early and hits the mark throughout, without lapsing into pure jest or melodrama.
With just the right amount of fourth wall breaks and self awareness from the actors, The Addams Family is a lighthearted comedy focusing on the family’s reaction to daughter Wednesday Addams’s (Rosie Spragg) engagement to Lucas Beineke (Rowan Lightfoot) – a frighteningly normal Ohioan.
Rosie Spragg as Wednesday Addams (Image Credit: Angelyyn Zhang)
The audience was welcomed with a threatening voiceover from Wednesday, setting the sinister yet comedic tone before the performance even began. Following this, Gomez (Jaeyen Lian) stole the show from the outset with his mix of physical comedy and witty jokes. His characterisation went hand in hand with Morticia’s (Ava Fitzhugh) understated and yet equally powerful stage presence.
Whilst Lian was certainly more outright with his comedic timing, Fitzhugh as Morticia was the standout performance for me. Effortlessly understated, her calm but commanding sass permeated every aspect of her performance, from her body language to her vocals and line delivery, constantly aided by recurring musical motifs.
Jaeyen Lian and Ava Fitzhugh went hand in hand as Gomez and Morticia (Image Credit: Angelyyn Zhang)
Though not introduced until later in Act One, Jacob Coughlan and Stella Williamson‘s Mal and Alice Beineke offered a unique comedic relief characterised through bickering and ditziness in nice contrast to Sam Ericsson‘s (Fester) expert one-liners. While Alice Beineke was initially characterised merely as comic relief, Williamson’s emotional vocals in Waiting quickly dispersed this assumption, with this being one of the best moments of the show for me.
The ensemble integrated well with the rest of the cast (Image Credit: Angelyyn Zhang)
This production’s comprehensive choreography did mean there was slightly less focus on the lighting, but the prevalent use of spotlights did allow for certain characters or moments to be emphasised. The subtlety of the sound and lighting design really let the actors’ vocal performances and characterisation shine.
The chandelier strung above the audience certainly added some atmosphere (Image Credit: Angelyyn Zhang)
The band’s presence on stage in direct view of the audience further highlighted these performances, not shying away from the fact that this is a musical production. While some of the musical numbers were certainly more emotional than others, songs such as Pulled illustrated the balance between the emotional and comedic aspects of the production.
Overall, The Addams Family is a light-hearted yet emotional comedy fuelled by strong all-round performances from the whole cast, with precise direction and choreography from Woodman bringing these performances together beautifully. The already sold-out run has certainly started out on a high it will hopefully finish on, with five more performances to come.
4.5/5
Feature Image Credit: Angelyyn Zhang
The Addams Family is showing from 29th October-1st November at the ADC Theatre at 7:45pm, grab your tickets here!
