The Addams Family – The Broadway Musical

There is little doubt that black humour is abundantly fertile territory. Turn every nicety on its head – and the in-jokes just keep giving.

Straight off the bat, it has to be said that fans of the 1960s TV show and the 1990s movie wouldn't have to be big musical theatre fans to enjoy this latest treatment of what started life as a satirical, single panel comic from the 1930s. The musical does, however, push the boundaries of the G rating somewhat, and rightly so. Most modern theatre audiences have grown up with the cult of the raunchy Rocky Horror Show; ergothey require, nay demand, far less subtlety with their sexual innuendo.

The story of “Bad Girl with Dysfunctional Family-Meets Good Boy, with Repressed Parents” is hardly original, but the script contains enough genuine zingers and catchy tunes to revive a concept that might otherwise be considered well and truly hacked to death.

This is Daryl Kirkness' first offering since the slick and visually spectacular A Christmas Carol in 2013, which in itself was a big act to follow. Being given license to dispense with the usual community theatre mandate to include a 'cast of thousands', he has assembled a vocally tight and delightfully engaging ensemble.

Big props to the technical team, who had the lighting and sound levels metered perfectly, enabling this comparatively small cast and orchestra to sound truly epic. The costumes, make-up and artistic set design all combine with clever choreography to make this show a feast for all senses.

All members of the lead cast are pitch-perfectly suited to their very quirky roles – and it seems genuinely wrong to single anyone out without raving about each person individually. Obviously, it needs mentioning that Dana McPhail and Graham Rodger do ooze the sexy charm and genuine chemistry needed to live up to the towering romantic icons that are Morticia and Gomez. Unfortunately the actor slated to play Uncle Fester, Ben Ross, had a mishap during production week, meaning that youngster Ben Poole had to step into the role with three days to prepare. He absolutely killed it, a testament not only to his talent and but also undoubtedly to the benchmark that was set by the performer he had to replace.

The Addams Family Musical is indeed a skeleton-rattlingly good time.

Rose Cooper 

** Philosophically-gratuitous side-note: the central conceit of this tale is that most people repress their true natures and harbour dark secrets. But in the end, honesty will out. It's a mystery why subterfuge and puritanism always have to go hand in hand – but at the end of the day, the crazy, hedonistic Addamses were always more loving and devoted to each other than the squeaky clean Bradys and Cleavers combined – and that is the true moral.