The Addams Family

Just over twelve months since a stylish professional production opened and closed prematurely in Sydney, community theatres are getting their chance to take a bite from the Addams apple.

In many ways this sort of musical is more suitable for community theatre than the professional scene in Australia.

Relatively easy tunes to master, an assortment of different shapes and sizes and ages in the cast, in a production that has familiar TV characters in it, makes this a show which is fun to rehearse and perform.

Director Samantha Neaves had a very small space to work on, that was further contracted by having the musicians on stage.

It was a copybook example of making the most of modest resources. A bridge was built over the band. Members of the chorus brought on props where necessary and when Uncle Fester had to fly away, he simply ran up the stairs of the theatre through the audience. Who needs a fly tower anyway?

The production was attractive and the band was on the money.

The program notes stated that Scott Clare has been impersonating Gomez since he was a teenager. It was no wonder that he fit this role like a hand in a glove.

Everyone looked just right in this performance. Elizabeth MacGregor swayed in as Morticia, the young lovers Nicole Winter as Wednesday and Lucas Beineke as her fiancé Rhys were cute. The performers playing his parents Linda Hale and Jeremy Curtin had just enough ham.

Adam Seeney as Lurch looked creepy alongside the other freaks, Miriam Ramsay as Grandma and Harry Alexander as a pint-sized Pugsley.

Uncle Fester’s showcase song, where he dances with the moon, was accomplished with panache by Mike Curtin with the help of a clever spot operator.

Overall The Addams Family is a few good tunes short of being a classic and loses a little pace in the second act, but those companies who do it well will have a good time on stage and at the box office at least for a few years.

A little footnote to this company – when you print a program try using a larger font. This reviewer needed a magnifying glass to read it and the credit for the writers was positively microscopic.

David Spicer

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