The Addams Family (25 April 2017)

The Addams Family

Edinburgh Festival Theatre

25 April 2017

The Addams Family musical was one of my absolute favourite shows when I saw it on broadway in 2010 (nearly seven years ago… how?!), so needless to say I was thrilled to see that it was being brought to the UK, and even more thrilled that the first stop on the tour would be the city nearest to my University town. By pure coincidence, I bought a ticket for what turned out to be press night, so I was one of many reviewers in the audience. 

As much as I enjoyed The Addams Family on Broadway, the UK tour was not nearly the same calibre. Though I had a good time watching it, and a number of performances were very strong, there were issues of design and staging, as well as a few notably poor performances by certain characters. 

© Addams Family UK Tour

The standout performances of the show came from Cameron Blakely (Gomez), Samantha Womack (Morticia), and Charlotte Page (Alice Beineke). Blakely's humour - and accent - were on point; his line delivery was stellar, he had a solid voice, and he built real and believable relationships between himself and all other characters. I particularly enjoyed the scenes between Gomez and Mal Beineke for their humour and quick wit. Womack as Morticia was very enjoyable (if one can say that); she had the right balance of stoicism and dark humour, coupled with a beautiful voice and charming stage presence. Womack and Blakely worked well together, and were utterly convincing as two deeply in love, and incredibly morbid, people. Blakely's airy humour balanced out Womack's darkness nicely. These two also appeared the best rehearsed out of anyone onstage. Page as Alice was the surprise standout of the show; a character I didn't even remember from the Broadway production. Page has a surprisingly strong voice, but also brought incredible intelligence and comedy to her role without turning it into a caricature. Page also managed to create a believable arc of character development that greatly added to her performance. Of all performers, Page appeared to understand her character the best. She was living rather than acting. 

Good performances also came from Dale Rapley (Mal Beineke), Valda Aviks (Grandma), and Les Dennis (Fester). While I disagree with the choice to cast an adult as Pugsley (though I understand the practicality of it for a touring production), Grant MacIntyre did an excellent job with the material he had. 

© Addams Family UK Tour

I was not particularly fond of the set design, and combined with poorly thought out staging, the whole effect was lacklustre. The colours chosen for the set were good, I'll give them that. But the set was very shaky and unstable, and the balconies seemed unnecessary (one would have sufficed, if they needed to have them at all). Few plot developments required the balcony (the only scene it benefitted was one between Wednesday and Lucas), and use of the balconies mostly consisted of the Ancestors hanging around watching the action below. Another noticeable error in judgement was the torture device during 'Pulled'. For most of the song, Wednesday was entirely obscured behind the device (unless you were sitting on the far left side of the theatre), meaning you missed any acting that was happening. My favourite sets were Morticia's Boudoir and the Entrance Hall, which were detailed and interesting. Most of the rest felt as though they were missing something, or could use some rearranging.

© Addams Family UK Tour

Costume design and construction were also not to my liking. The Beineke's were adequate, as was Gomez. But Morticia's famous black dress was poorly fitted and featured an odd patterned material around the bust. Wednesday's dresses were far too frilly and fussy for her character, and the black corset was just completely out of place. I did like the colour and material of Wednesday's green dress, so I believe they could've chosen a better design and still used that material. The Ancestor's costumes were also too colourful; I much preferred the Broadway's all-white look. It made them more interesting. Coloured costumes blended into the background too easily, and made it less believable that they were invisible. On that note, I also really disliked the choreography. It was far too peppy and excitable, basic corrections hadn't been made (everyone's legs at the same level when there are kicks involved - if that means 45 degrees, 45 degrees it is!) with the result that the entire thing looked sloppy. While the Ancestors are clearly well trained and talented, I did not like the material they were given. They were far too smiley as well; basically, the ancestors were not nearly macabre enough. 

The two weakest performances came from Carrie Hope Fletcher as Wednesday and Oliver Ormson as Lucas. Fletcher has an undeniably strong voice and sung the score with ease, but her acting varied between wooden (at best) and robotic (at worst). Though she manages to act a bit when singing, when she's not singing, Fletcher appears to forget she's still meant to be performing, and instead fiddles with her plaits or her costume, or glances out into the audience. She performed the blocking as blocking, rather than natural movements. Fletcher's Wednesday also lacked character development; there was no change in her from beginning to end - a kind of stagnant melancholia. Wednesday is a beautifully written character with so much opportunity for expression and growth, but Fletcher encompassed none of that. There was no ferocity or determination in her character; instead, it was, to use my companion for the evening's words, "sad and awkward." Ormson on the other hand appeared to have some understanding of his character, and with Gomez or his parents was an interesting character. But on his own, Ormson became almost too feminine in his movements and mannerism. There was nothing of the "College Football player" image in him anymore. This combination of a feminine Lucas and a wooden Wednesday meant there was absolutely no chemistry between the two, which is difficult because this is the couple you're meant to be rooting for the entire show. The director needed to be reminded that you can't force chemistry by making two characters kiss multiple times a scene. This lack of chemistry really showed itself in Crazier than You, which was easily the most awkward scene of the musical. 

© Addams Family UK Tour

There were also a number of mess-ups that one does not expect to see by the time press night rolls around (perhaps the show would've benefitted from another week of previews). Ensemble members were constantly checking their spacing and looking around at each other, particularly when changing formations. There was a major flub when the dancer portraying the moon had her wig come off, and instead of calming letting it go, she had a minor on-stage freak out. While she recovered quickly, it is not the reaction one expects to see in a professional production. Only Page, Womack, Rapley, Dennis, and Blakely appeared absolutely confident in their abilities. That's not to say the ensemble were not strong individual performers. If anything, they just appeared underrehearsed. 

While I enjoyed The Addams Family, and it benefitted from some strong performances, it was significantly weakened by poor staging and choreography, an interesting but poorly thought out set, inconsistent costuming, and a few uninspired performances. I would be curious to see it again in a few months, but for now, I would give it three out of five stars (which would've been two if it weren't for the strength of the source material).