Review: The Addams Family
By Dionne Scougul
Eccentric, saucy, and just a little bit fiendish. That’s the Addams family in the cultural zeitgeist and the metric upon which an adaptation is judged. The Addams Family is a musical comedy with music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa and book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, exploring themes of conformity, love, and secrets. This performance was produced by the Foot of the Hill Theatre Company, directed by Emma Race and musical director Misha Joshi, and fulfils quintessential Addams expectations. With the driving conflict concerning the romantic relationship between Wednesday (Anna Pile) and Lucas (Alex McNiece), the latter coming from a ‘normal’ family, and the former, coming from people who are unapologetically themselves. The 150-minute show, performed in St Marys College Hall, boasts 26 musical pieces, with plenty of dancing and well-timed jokes.
There were some great performances with Lurch (Samuel Blazey) expertly maintaining his stony demeanour, Pugsley (Al Palmer) whose singing was akin to sadistic Orphan Annie – a hard thing for an adult to pull off, and Fester (Aaryn McDonald-Brown) who sincerely owned the space and embodied the role. For me, the standout performance of the show was Morticia (Georgia Hitchcock), with excellent vocals, perfect voice control, and a continually captivating performance. I also enjoyed Gomez’s (Harry Graves) performance; he got some good laughs with well-delivered lines, but unfortunately, the audience couldn’t properly hear his voice during musical numbers in a lower or softer register. The Benikes: Mal (Callum Ryan) and Alice (Talia Tobias) were also so believably normal yet dysfunctional, at one point Mal, recreated another character’s shimmy in such a hilariously, disgracefully awkward way, that I had Sunday Night Klute flashbacks. Good performances all around, with well-maintained American accents, and mostly level and balanced mics and music (Sound Designer: Shade Bannigan-Davis) throughout.
One of the best prop moments involved Wednesday’s crossbow being ‘fired’ and the dart getting passed along the stage by the ensemble of Ancestors
St Mary’s College Hall isn’t inherently a theatre space, with a platform stage constructed at one end of the venue, and an additional, detached platform stage left. It was a minimal set; “New Yorkers spend all their money on rent and have nothing left for furniture!” one of the Benikies exclaimed upon arrival. The set consisted of a permanent painted backdrop of family portraits, two electric candelabras – one of which got knocked over during a particularly enthusiastic dance number – and a dining table set brought on as and when needed. One of the best prop moments involved Wednesday’s crossbow being ‘fired’ and the dart getting passed along the stage by the ensemble of Ancestors.
Due to the stage’s relatively small size, the ensemble would at times be acting in the front aisle below the stage or gathered upstage, which helped create more dynamic viewing. There were some stereotypically shoestring budget moments, like a hotel brochure that was a blank piece of paper and Morticia’s songbook subbed in for a photo album. But all these things encouraged the audience to focus more on the sentiment of the piece, the superb singing, dedicated choreography (Choreographer: Abby Clay), and ghoulish costumes (Set & Costume Designer: Madison Spencer).
Foot of the Hill Theatre Company has put together a solid production, with splendid singing, good performances, and lots of passion
Lighting (Designer: Leyla Aysan Montoya) used colour to great effect during musical numbers – both to reflect the mood and to spotlight the more intimate moments on the side stage that may have otherwise felt reduced on the main stage; especially considering the original script calls for various rooms to imitate a mansion, a giant oak tree, and a central park setting. Overall, the cast and production team (Production Manager: Carlos Davies) worked well leaning into the limitations of the space & budget, although I wish they had used the aisles a little more beyond the opening number.
Foot of the Hill Theatre Company has put together a solid production, with splendid singing, good performances, and lots of passion. I would say that some of the slower dancing numbers missed the mark, but that was not down to the choreography itself. The audience had an enjoyable time with laughs throughout this smooth and saucily gothic production.
The Addams Family was running in the St Mary’s College Hall from Thursday the 13th of February to Saturday the 15th of February 2025.
Image credit: Bee Wilkes
