Duh duh duhduh. Click Click. Duh duh duhduh. Click Click! Creepy and kooky, mysterious and spooky, the world’s favourite fear loving family are back with a brand new musical crammed with hysteria, hilarious songs and a toe tapping, finger clicking score.
The loathsome, yet loveable Wednesday Addams is growing up faster than her parents can grasp and has fallen in love with the ‘normal’ Lucas Beineke. When she confides in her father and makes him swear to keep their relationship a secret from her mother, a simple dinner party between the two families becomes an uproarious affair.
With such a following, an attempt to stage such an iconic family could have fallen flat on its face, but by keeping true to the quirky characters that everyone knows and loves Rick Elice, Andrew Lippa and Marshall Brickman have created a side splitting, musical marvel. Each relationship portrayal was a nail hit on the head, from Gomez and Morticia’s overflowing passion to Wednesday and Pugsley’s somewhat sadistic torture hobbies, the family dynamic was sheer perfection.
With a cast who work as a well oiled machine, you’d have thought this was the final leg of their tour as opposed to their opening night. Cameron Blakely’s Gomez effortlessly lands every joke with his impeccable comedic timing, whilst not dropping a single crescendo and still appealing to every man in the audience with a teenage daughter. A believably stroppy Wednesday, as played by the vocally astounding Carrie Hope Fletcher, manages to be a perfect balance of her father's passion and the darkness of her mother. From one dark storyline to the TV’s queen of darkness, Eastender’s Samatha Womack as an overbearing, yet aloof Morticia Addams may not have been a natural at dancing the tango, but delivered an otherwise flawless performance.
Staged within the walls of the Addams’ family home, Diego Pitarch’s design is both expected and outstanding in the same moment. Offering surprises in every scene, including monsters, moving pictures and Thing the helping hand, there is not a trick missed in this technical treat.
The Addams Family are a notoriously odd family, with interests and a worldly outlook that may be deemed strange, however in this new stage adaption they are as normal as any other family. Dealing with children coming of age, disastrous dinners with in-laws and marital spats, the Addams’ are just as normal as any other family on any other street. Well, almost
Running at Festival Theatre Edinburgh until Saturday 29 April
Tickets available at www.edtheatres.com