The Addams Family

The DVS production of The Addams Family is a tribute to the dedication of community musical theatre companies, with the show opening some more than a year after beginning rehearsals.

The production also lost a principal cast member, the talented tour de force Antony Steadman, who passed away earlier this year. Antony had been cast to play Uncle Fester. Fittingly, the performance run is dedicated to Antony's memory.

The musical launches straight into a future scenario: now Wednesday Addams is (mostly) grown up, what happens if she falls for someone more - normal?   Well, she has.  Wednesday wants to marry a cookie-cutter Nice Young Man, Lucas Beineke. They let her father, Gomez, know, but swear him to secrecy, which sends Gomez into a tailspin at the prospect of keeping a secret from his wife Morticia. Worse, the whole Beineke family are about to descend to have dinner with them!  

The joy of the Addams Family has always been that they are completely their bizarre and wonderful selves, polite to the normals, while romping about, having a marvellous time. They not only don't want to 'fit in', they are bewildered by Wednesday's wish to even try. The moment when Wednesday (Paris Dallow) appeared in a bright yellow version of Wednesday's classic black dress, in a bid to be 'normal', was almost shocking.  

The small orchestra, conducted by Marie-Louise Wright had the odd ensemble issue here and there, but otherwise provided good musical support for the cast, and lit up in the bigger production numbers. 

The show opens with the family calling upon their ancestral ghosts to celebrate what it is to be an Addams. Scott Patton loomed appropriately as the zombie butler, Lurch. Lurch may be a smaller role, but it requires excellent comedic skills, and Patton rose to the challenge. 

The chorus are clearly having a wonderful time as the ghosts, creating and inhabiting a multitude of characters from different ages; and they act as a Greek chorus, with a few of them always drifting about and observing the shenanigans of the living, moving scenery, singing and dancing, including a rather impressive tap-dancing number, accompanying Morticia in "Just Around the Corner" - the choreography and movements devised by co-director and choreographer Charli Lewis were simple and effective. 

The family ghosts also answer to Uncle Fester (Brett Harvey)'s call to help the two young lovebirds ("But Love").  Harvey was a standout in this production. As a giggling, merry lunatic and utter (if spooky) romantic, Harvey kept the show ticking along nicely in his quasi-narrator role. His song to his beloved Moon ("The Moon and Me"), with chorus member Cara Lofts dancing a pretty solo as the Moon) was genuinely beautiful.  The rest of the time, Harvey's high energy performance was a particularly bright spot in an already talented cast.

Elizabeth Carr as Grandma and Kaisha Thompson as Pugsley were a great double act - Carr bringing mischief and mayhem through her secret potions, while Thompson was both chaotically energetic as the masochistic little brother who doesn't want anything to change, but then also delivered the wistful "What If" song with beautifully pure tone and an emotionality belying her age.

Ryan Smith delivered a solid performance as the Beineke patriarch, Mal, swinging from distaste to outrage to finding his youthful self under the middle-aged man he has become.  Smith extracted some excellent moments from a rather thankless role.  

Another standout performance was Amanda Middleditch as the put-upon Alice Beineke, who goes from a sunny, nervous disposition, where she spouts rhymes when she panics, to singing and dancing on the dining table, and demanding more from life. Middleditch has operatic training, and it shows. Her performance was a delight.

Wednesday was played by a delightfully dour, spooky and intense Paris Dallow, who can certainly belt out a Broadway number. Jack Maher (Lucas) was a breezy, good-natured foil to Dallow, the 'aw-shucks' tempered by some nascent spooky tendencies of his own.  

Matt Biscombe's Gomez was less dashing Latino lover and more bewildered husband and father, trapped between the two most important women in his life.  But he also exuded charm and confidence, showing a genuine flair for off-hand comedic timing, and easily navigating the musical demands of the role with a rich baritone voice. 

Sophia Bubner was everything Morticia Addams needs to be - glamorous, commanding, demanding clad head to toe in black, and as much of an utter romantic as Gomez, able to pull off both a tap-dancing number (the rather jaunty "Death is Just Around the Corner") and then passionately reconciling with her husband in (what else?) a "Tango de Amor". 

The Addams Family is a great musical, and DVS performs it with an abundance of energy, charm and talent.  I recommend it as a fun night out.

Alex Armstrong

Images: TDImages/Trevor D'Ambrosio