The kooky and spookiest family have made their way to Edinburgh! Captivate Theatre presents us with ‘The Addams Family’, playing at The Rose Theatre until 24th August. This musical comedy follows Wednesday Addams as she attempts to prepare her family to meet her boyfriend’s family, the Beinekes. With Gomez struggling to keep a secret from Morticia, Puglsey missing his sister torturing him and Fester falling in love with the moon, it seems there’s no chance of Wednesday making her family seem normal.
Aidan Cross is hilarious as Gomez, he brings such a comedic presence to this iconic character, one which embraces the cartoonish slapstick side of the character. Most importantly Aidan delivers Gomez’s Latin accent perfectly, laced with cheeky comic nuance, this is something that has rarely been achieved in previous UK productions. Jess Nolan gives us a sassy and fabulous Morticia Addams. There is a specific tone that is hard to crack with Morticia, however, Jess manages to sustain Morticia’s gloomy demeanor while sustaining enough energy to keep the audience invested. These two performers work fantastically together as the long-suffering couple. ‘Live Before We Die’ is performed in the aftermath of a great buildup of frustration within both performers’ portrayals, both do well to make this a successful payoff for the audience. This is probably the best Morticia and Gomez you will see in any Scottish production.
Sophie Gee is phenomenal as Wednesday Addams, there is the perfect understanding of her ongoing conflict; where Wednesday wishes she can live her gruesome life, while also having the normality of her boyfriend, Lucas, merged in with that. However, she’s stuck in between both, and Sophie shows that frustration. Sophie’s performance of ‘Pulled’ is delivered at the level of a seasoned Broadway performer, the audience went wild for the sheer vocal talent on show.
Lawrie Banks is mental as Pugsley! He’s not afraid to show the insanity of this character, the craziness is very much present. Perhaps at points, the craziness can be toned down a tad, but nonetheless, this is a funny and unpredictable performance from Lawrie that the audience lap up. Max Middleton is hysterically funny as Fester, the physical comedy he brings to his interpretation of the batty uncle is brilliant. The kookiness is very much present and it in fact drives the character and makes him even more off the wall than normal. ‘The Moon and Me’ is a lovely wee song that is presented with much joy and romanticism from Max.
Kathryn Brown brings us a tamer version of Grandma than we have seen previously, there is still the hysterical one liners, but it seems they are delivered with a calmer demeanor. This is not to say that Grandma is not still a goofy and brilliantly performed character, it’s just that at some points she floats into the background, when even with her being a supporting role she can make a firm impact.
Luke Davidson brings great energy and positivity to Lucas Beineke; he is almost the audience’s perspective of the real-world clashing with the Addam’s bonkers world. Lucas’ love for Wednesday is portrayed so sweetly by Luke. ‘Crazier Than You’ is a brilliant duet between Sophie and Luke which shows the two’s admiration for each other.
Roza Stevenson is brilliant as Alice Beineke, she brings the goofball energy needed to recite the rhyming dialogue. But with this you need one hell of a voice to belt out Alice’s solo during ‘Full Disclosure’ and boy oh boy does Roza deliver. Her voice is superb! A very strong and fun performance from Roza for this supporting character.
Robbie Small is strait-laced but absolutely hilarious as Malcolm Beineke. The build of frustration at the Addam’s mental antics is hysterical to watch. It reminded me of watching Steve Martin’s character in ‘Planes, Trains, and Automobiles’ trying to deal with John Candy, this portrayal has that exact same comedic genius approach. This is a great performance of this supporting character.
The ensemble of this production does well to fit in with the goofy antics as the Addam’s ancestors, the vocal talent provided is impressive. The ensemble for this production are as follows; Ollie Hienmann (Alt Gomez), Rachel Duncan (Alt Morticia), April Beattie (Alt Wednesday), Seumas Cross (Alt Pugsley), Alex Fraser (Alt Lucas), Becca Wickstead (Alt Alice), Andrew Brown, Chiara Aitken, Ellen Stewart, Georgia Sim, Kayla Travers & Rae Crone.
Sally Lyall’s direction of this musical (with Katie Slater assistant directing) does well to embrace the gothic themes of this production while also heightening the comedy. The characters are all perfectly depicted as their cartoonish selves thanks to Sally relying on the performers talent to make this stripped-back production successful. However, one of the big things with ‘The Addams Family’ is that the musical relies on the technical spectacle to lift the narrative. Andrew Lippa’s music & lyrics are brilliant and help make this musical thoroughly entertaining. However, Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice’s book can be a bit of a slog as it is stretched out, particularly in act two, it seems like we’re going round in circles. Therefore, to remove the visual spectacle and grandeur of the musical, it does make some moments a little flat. However, Sally with the help of choreography Roza Stevenson attempt to lift those scenes with some clever movement featuring the stripped-back set. A notable moment was ‘One Normal Night’, the mirror carousel was a superb addition to help visually match the grand musical number.
Speaking of the music, John Hodgson’s musical direction of this production makes Lippa’s music sound stunning, once again ‘One Normal Night’ was notably brilliant, the audience loved it. However, every number sounded great. Charlotte Nicholson and Mairi Cross provide fantastic costume within this production, the main characters all have professional standard costumes. The Ancestors also look very spooky!
Captivate Theatre’s production of ‘The Addams Family’ has a superb cast that really embraces the crazy characters within the iconic world of the kooky and spooky family. The musical itself has its flaws and has always relied on production value rather than content, therefore when that’s stripped away it is at some points noticeable. However, thanks to this brilliant cast, it’s still a highly enjoyable family affair.
Get tickets for ‘The Addams Family’ in the link below:
https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/addams-family-a-new-musical-1
Theatre Scotland 
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