The Addams Family
★★★☆☆ It really is a scream
The Brunton at Loretto Theatre: Thurs 31 Oct – Sat 2 Nov 2024
Review by Martin Gray
America’s funniest family of wacky weirdos – sorry, Munsters – rise again as Loretto Theatre hosts the Brunton’s Youth programme production of The Addams Family.
It’s an old, old story. Boy meets girl. Girl is a ghoul who lives with her creepy, cooky, mysterious and spooky family in a haunted mansion in New York’s Central Park. Can crossbow crazy Wednesday Addams find happiness with All-American boy Lucas Beineke despite the protests of their parents?
She will if Wednesday’s surprisingly romantic Uncle Fester has anything to do with it, although kid brother Pugsley is less keen, fearing that if Wednesday leaves home there’ll be no one to tie him to the torture rack.
The Addams Family at dinner. Pic: Craig Dixon
The Addams Family is a terrific show, with memorable music and lyrics from Andrew Lippa and book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice paying delightful tribute to the beloved Sixties sitcom inspired by the New Yorker cartoons of Charles Addams.
The Brunton Theatre’s youth cast give their all, bringing huge enthusiasm to the Loretto Theatre undew the guidance of David Ross. Leading Friday night’s performance in the alternate B cast, Sophia Liola and Harris Russell embrace the traditional characterisations of Mortician and Gomez, she the quietly passionate matriarch, he the hot-blooded Spaniard devoted to wife and family.
confidence
Liola’s dry delivery and stage confidence, and Russell’s neat accent and gift for timing mean the laughs kept coming. (‘Excuse me, do you have a little girls’ room?’ ‘We used to but we let them all go.’) And Isla Hay Musk does a nice job as Wednesday, putting the ‘mad’ into ‘madly in love’.
Wednesday and Gomez. Pic: Craig Dixon
Kelsey Hunter wins the audience over pre-Act One as Uncle Fester asking us to keep those phones at bay, and providing the heart of the show, whether introducing the action or pushing it along. And Amy Clark plays Pugsley with ghastly relish, sharing an especially nice scene with Lulu Grant as Grandma Addams.
Zoe Strachan’s grunting Lurch has the requisite presence, while Emile Fontanot Shepherd, Ailsa Thompson and Ben White bring the Ohio charm as Lucas and parents Mal and Alice.
So far as community theatre goes, the Addams Family is a gift in that it requires a great graveyard of Ancestors, departed Addams Family members who emerge one night a year but, this time, aren’t allowed to return to near eternal rest until Fester is satisfied his gothic niece has nabbed her man.
cracking zombie walks
There are a couple of dozen here, some playing all three nights as Ancestors, others are the alternate cast, thus making sure every performer is on stage every night. The give us some cracking zombie walks… a special nod must go the ancestor who also acted as scene-shifter. Useful things, corpses.
Wednesday and Lucus. Pic: Craig Dixon
A problem with the production is that not all members of the cast are great singers. Secrets, What If and Just around the corner are nicely put across, but big numbers which should sizzle – Full Disclosure, One Normal Night and the opening When You’re an Addams aren’t best served, the latter being further hobbled by a suicidal microphone.
And bringing most of the Ancestors on stage for Crazier Than You, a song showcasing the relationships between Wednesday and Lucas, and Alice and Mal, is a bad creative decision, distracting from a key emotional moment. Hovering townsfolk types should be reserved for panto.
likeable
Props, as the Americans would say, for the props, which included a cool crossbow and dynamite detonator; while set, lighting and costumes – see if you can spot Thing – are splendid. Up in the rafters, the nine-piece band is pretty decent.
This Addams Family isn’t a perfect production, but it is a very likeable one, buoyed up by a game cast and a backstage team who put heart and soul into the pacy proceedings. Everyone involved is bound to benefit from the experience, and hopefully they’ll all be back with the Brunton – where ever it may be – next year.
Running time: Two hours and 30 minutes (including one interval)
The Brunton @ Loretto School, Loretto School Theatre, Millhill, Musselburgh.
Thurs 31 – Sat 2 Nov 2024
Evenings: 7.30pm.
Tickets and details: Book here.
The Cast of The Addams Family. Pic: Craig Dixon
ENDS
