Review: THE ADDAMS FAMILY, The Alexandra Birmingham (UK tour)

Photo credit: Pamela Raith

The Addams Family, best known from the classic cult TV series of the 1960’s and also the original 1991 film, has been bought to the stage in magnificent form as a wonderful ‘musical comedy’. 

Approaching the theatre with the iconic song playing around in my head, along with the finger clicking, is realised upon the opening of the show when we see ‘Thing’ pop out of the scenery and click along with most of the audience also joining in.  We don’t get a full rendition of this song synonymous with The Addams Family, but what we do get is a fabulous array of catchy and perfectly fitting songs to tie in with the storyline.

The story centres around Wednesday Addams (Kingsley Morton) who falls in love with a ‘normal’ boy Lucas Beineke (Ahmed Hamad).  Wednesday wants nothing more than her rather dysfunctional family to act normal during a dinner where the two families meet for the first time before an impending wedding announcement.  Wednesday decides to tell her father Gomez Addams (Cameron Blakely) about the engagement but asks him not to tell her mother Morticia Addams (Joanne Clifton) as she would not approve.  The only trouble with this predicament is that Gomez has a marriage where there are no secrets between him and his wife Morticia.

Cameron Blakely commands the stage every time he appears as Gomez.  There are plenty of comedy moments in the show and Cameron plays these out so wonderfully and with impeccable timing.  The chemistry between Gomez and Morticia is nothing short of steamy! They live their lives with a true lust for each other as well as a deep love, however this is rocked to its core when Morticia finds out that Gomez has been keeping a secret from her.

Wednesday Addams, played by Kingsley Morton, is a confident young woman who knows what she wants and certainly knows how to wrap her father around her little finger.  Morton has the most incredible voice and her version of “Pulled” is spectacular.

Now we mustn’t forget about the rest of the Addams Family and it was a real treat to see Scott Paige as Uncle Fester.  Every time he appears on stage, you are instantly drawn to him.  He is certainly a master of his craft and again, his comedic performance is first class.  The highlight of the evening is his rendition of ‘The Moon and Me’.  

We also meet ‘Lurch’ played by Dickon Gough.  Now despite Lurch having hardly any dialogue, apart from the odd grunt, he really does fill the stage with his very tall stature and stage presence.  The slowness of his walking adds to some very funny moments on stage.  It isn’t until the end that we finally hear what Lurch has to offer and of course, as anticipated, we are greeted with a very low voice.

One of the standout moments in the show is during the closing number of Act 1, ‘Full Disclosure’.  Now, there are some incredibly funny moments during this particular song, however due to the silly nature of some of the dialogue, it is inevitable that the cast will begin to corpse, which is probably quite apt for The Addams Family whose delight is in death!  Of course, the audience love this and it sends everyone off laughing into the interval.

In the second act, we find the parents of Lucas, Mal Beineke (Sean Kingsley) and Alice Beineke (Kara Lane) re-establish their lost love for one another after Pugsley Addams (Grant McIntyre) mistakenly adds a special potion into Alice’s drink which is meant for his sister Wednesday.  The potion almost acts as a truth potion so Alice is very vocal about how unhappy her marriage is.  Mal obviously realises what kind of person he has turned into and by the end of the show, they are very much back in love as are Gomez and Morticia who reconcile their differences after Morticia realises that she was very much like Wednesday in her younger days who just wanted to marry the boy that she loved.

We must not forget the ‘Ancestors’ (Abigail Brodie, Matthew Ives, Sophie Hutchinson, Jessica Keable, Ying Ue Li, Castell Parker, Sean Lopeman and Sario Solomon) who are awoken from the dead at the beginning of the show and feature heavily throughout.  There is no dialogue spoken by the Ancestors, however they provide a spooky backdrop during all scenes in the show.  The costuming and make up for the Ancestors is outstanding.

The set designed by Diego Pitarch really does give you the feel of a ram shackled, run down haunted mansion, perfect for such a spooky and cooky family.

So with ‘Full Disclosure’ my advice is to get yourself down to visit The Addams Family for a funny, spooky and memorable evening, topped off by the most incredible dance routine performed by Morticia (Joanne Clifton) and Gomez (Cameron Blakely) which is a cross between a steamy Argentine Tango and Paso Doble.

***** Five stars

Reviewed by: Emma Rowley

The Addams Family plays at the Alexandra in Birmingham until 22 January before continuing its tour. Tickets for select venues are available here.