Book: Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice
Music and Lyrics: Andrew Lippa
Director: Matthew White
Ever since they first appeared in a cartoon in the 1930s, then on TV screens in 1964, people have had a 
macabre fascination for this ghoulish group. Now with another UK tour under way, it seems that the popularity of The Addams Family has never been higher.
It’s set in and around the family mansion in Central Park, where the Princess of Darkness herself, Wednesday Addams, has fallen in love. Not only that, but she’s going to get married, her mother doesn’t know, and his family are from – Ohio! All the Addams need to do is look like an extremely normal family, and get through one normal night and dinner, and all will be well. The course of true love never did run smooth, of course, particularly not in musical theatre, and with this family involved it’s inevitable that there’s going to be lots of hilarious bumps in the road.
They’ve assembled some well-known faces for this cast, with Alexandra Burke and Ricardo Afonso playing Morticia and Gomez. Although she first came to the nation’s attention as a singer, over the last few years Burke has found her home on the musical theatre stage and she gives us a softly-spoken, intense portrayal of Morticia, less forceful than you sometimes find, but it gives the role a good, creepier feel. Casting someone who became famous for her vocal skills makes you realise how little Morticia actually gets to sing, but Burke doesn’t disappoint when we do get to hear her, with a good, well-interpreted version of Just Around the Corner. Opposite her, Afonso gives us a fine interpretation of a man torn between his wife and his daughter, caught up in the realisation that children grow up. For all that The Addams Family is a comedy, there are some quite touching moments as Gomez struggles to advise his daughter on matters of the heart, knowing that if he succeeds, then he will lose her to a husband.
Lauren Jones is a forceful Wednesday. She’s lost the trademark pigtails (Wednesday’s growing up, after all) and delights with her much anticipated Pulled, though showing a degree of tenderness behind her dark and crazy exterior. Musical theatre veteran Clive Rowe gives us a classic and funny interpretation of Uncle Fester, determined to ensure that love triumphs despite the setbacks, with Lesley Joseph showing a different side to her skills as Grandma. Nicholas Mclean does a nice job as Pugsley, Jacob Fowler as a typical boy-next-door Lucas and Dickon Gough dominating everyone and reprising a role he was born to play as Lurch.
Stealing the show is Kara Lane as Alice, whose relationship with her husband Mal (Dale Rapley) is not what it used to be. Moving between the meek and accepting wife whose words inexplicably always rhyme at the start of the show, into the confident, honest and outspoken woman that Mal fell in live with, she gives us a delightful performance with a wonderful Waiting to round of the first act.
It’s a show with an extremely funny script and a lot of catchy music, which is well delivered with some excellent choreography by Alistair David, and even if you’re not generally a fan of the TV series or film version, there’s a lot here to enjoy. The design by Diego Pitarch is striking, the show is slick and the ensemble of ancestors add to the fun.
A good night out, entertaining and amusing.
Runs until 10 August 2025 and on tour
