Playwrights Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice wrote the hilarious storyline, Andrew Lippa, who was later nominated for a Tony Award for ‘Best Original Score’, then added the music and lyrics. Lippa has brilliantly written the score to match each character’s personality – e.g. Gomez a Spanish Flamenco-style melody.

The $15 million production (co-incidentally produced by Phoenix Entertainment) ran for 722 performances on Broadway, grossing over $62 million, third only to ‘Wicked’ and ‘The Lion King’. The Broadway production starred Brooke Shields as Morticia.

The Australian Premiere was in Sydney, March 2013, with John Waters as Gomez Addams.

Now is your chance to meet this ghoulish family in their two and a half hour, offbeat production, presented by Phoenix Theatre Inc. and Dark Psychic Productions at the Phoenix Theatre, 435 Carrington Street, Hamilton Hill on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights at 8.00 until 10^th December. There is one matinée on 4^th December at 2.00 pm.

This show’s selected charity is Cystic Fibrosis (a debilitating genetic lung condition), so please buy a programme and give a donation to this worthwhile cause. Thank you.

The entrance foyer is lined with empty picture frames, gravestones, ‘Thing’ in a box, with various black magic and torture implements. Even the coffee counter had jars of ‘creepy specimens’ as tasty treats. Huge amount of work, but a great scene setter for what is ahead – the work supervised by Jessica Tarnowy, with props supplied for this and the musical by Chantal Kerkhof, Krispin Maesalu, Ryan S McNally, Allan Veal and Pat McMahon.

The set, designed by Ryan McNally, was simple but extremely effective. There were walkways off each side of the stage, around the orchestra pit, to the front of the audience.

The curtains open to show a decrepit, weatherboard house with a glow coming from the attic window. In front of the house, next to a wooden bridge, is Bernice, a 2-metre high Venus flytrap. At each side of the stage is a cobweb covered stone arch. There are various plinths for the ‘dead’ – as opposed to ‘living’ – statues.

The production manager was Alison Kovacs, who with stage manager Nikita Harwood ensured a fast and effective stage crew (Daniel Rooney, Eleanor Weller-Brown and Luke Locantro). Slick work. The technical director, Alexander Coutts-Smith, designed both the soundscape and, aided by Krispin Maesalu, the lighting. Benjamin Albert added the fun sound effects; the sound operator was Simone Ostle.

The live orchestra are in the ‘pit’ in front of the stage. The musicians were conducted by the musical director, Krispin Maesalu who covered the various scores from soft love songs to the loud, creepy and slightly discordant tunes required when the ancestors were around. The reed section comprised Jeni Stevens, Trish Telcik and Talitha Dunn, the brass players were Paul Marion and Emma Mondy. Chris Johnston was on guitar, with Josh Haines and Ethan Walters on keyboard. The string section was Benjamin Cooke, Amanda Reynolds and Greg Critchley.  Drums and castanets played by Jake Isard. The percussionist was also assistant musical director, Ben Albert. With the musicians facing a side wall instead of directly at the audience, I found the instrument balance better than normal.

       The orchestra strikes up their Overture with the well-known Addams Family refrain. As they play, a hand – ‘Thing’ – comes out of the centre of the proscenium curtains and beckons us to join the Family. Poised on a plinth to the side of the stage is a one-legged woman, ‘the Sideshow’ (Sally McMaster).

       The curtains open and reveal the Addams Family on their way to the cemetery. Even after many years of marriage, Gomez Addams (Paul Reed) and his wife, Morticia (Holly Denton) are still as passionate over each other as ever. Lanky and bald, Uncle Fester (Callum Siegmund-Bant) and young Pugsley (Charlie Martin) are excited about the annual family gathering and all of the decaying corpses they will meet. Sadly, if Wednesday gets married she will no longer be available to give Pugsey his daily torture on the rack. Scruffy and coarse Grandma (Devetta Ridgwell) enjoys meeting all of the family members, many of whom have been dead for centuries. Butler Lurch (Declan Roden) keeps her company.

      This year however, the daughter, Wednesday (Rosie McGavock) would rather be with her new boyfriend. She has fallen madly in love with caring Lucas Beineke (Matthew Arnold), who is unfortunately ‘normal’! Gomez and Morticia are horrified, until they discover that he wants to be an embalmer.

     Wednesday invites Lucas and his parents to the Addams’ Towers for a meal. Whilst the group were led in by the ballerina (Tabitha Kerlin), a gypsy (Chantal Kerkhof) with crystal ball in hand cast a spell. The straight-laced, passionless father, Mal (Lee Wilson) and Lucas’s inappropriately dressed Mum, Alice (Claudia Van Zeller) are looking forward to meeting their prospective daughter in law. On arrival, the ancestors were lined up on their plinths; there were the abandoned bride (Melanie Doust), the flapper (Charlotte Williams), the Indian (Bernadette Ward) and the courtesan (Steph Hickey). The gravedigger ancestor (Pat McMahon) took an instant dislike to Lucas, and had to be stopped before an incident arose. Uncle Fester calls for an intermezzo as he plays his ukulele, but nothing can prepare the visitors for ‘The Game’ at the end of the dinner.

      How can Wednesday and Lucas prove their love for each other with an apple? Or will the Grim Reaper (Craig Rickards) be called?

     The ancestor ‘flight attendant’ (Sara Urban) brought a smile on the curtain call.

 Other ancestors that visited the family included a puritan (Zack Inglis), the conquistador (Christopher Doney), the soldier (Allan Veal), the convict (Shaun Griffin) and the gambler (Julian Monck). Every actor and ‘ancestor’ extra had their moment of glory in this show, whether dancing, singing or merely their creepy presence adding wonderfully to the show.

The director, Ryan S McNally acted as a mentor for his assistant, Eleanor Weller-Brown. Ryan is certainly not one to accept ‘average’ or even ‘good’, he demands the best and then helps the cast give him the best and more. The script was extremely funny, and the cast delivered the subtle jokes perfectly. Gomez and Morticia’s love rapport was brilliant, even though delivered in Spanish, like ‘querida’ (darling) and ‘cara’ (my heart) it was when he spoke French that Morticia melted.

A couple of years ago, community theatre musicals would have one good singer, and the remainder would be able to dance OR sing. Recently I have noticed that invariably, all of the main characters in a musical can sing and dance brilliantly. The singing in this production was WAAPA standard, powerful, huge vocal range and a natural – full body – delivery. These stars strutted the stage, and engaged the audience from the moment the curtains opened. Even the fun songs like Uncle Fester’s, who sounding a little like Kermit, sang a beautiful song to the moon. Lurch’s song was possibly a unique event in Australian theatre.

The high quality choreography covered many genres from soft shoe, high kicking and a tango d’amour. The choreographers, Sarah-Rose Kelly, Ryan S McNally and Steph Hickey, amazingly managed to control this large cast, with several groups dancing simultaneously. The dancers were energetic and did not miss a beat.

With more than two dozen characters, all very different, the costume section (Ryan McNally, Rebeka Thomas and Rhiannon Thomas) had a great deal of work. Each costume was a masterpiece, well-tailored and created with imagination, whilst still ensuring a faithful reproduction of the character we all know so well. The makeup girls, Jessica Langdon and Amy Heath Murdoch, gave the finishing touches. For shows like this, the audience have a definite expectation as to what the Family should look like, and they were immaculately represented.

Superb acting, packed with energy and great fun. I expect rave reviews.

Despite this play being about all things macabre, I think that any children over nine would love the characters. Be warned, several performances are already sold out.

The first edition only sold 3,000 copies; however, it is now 68^th on the American Library Association’s list of the 100 most objectionable books of the 20^th century. ‘Time’ magazine later said it was one of the best 100 modern novels ever.

In 1995, Nigel Williams adapted the book, producing the stage version that is now brought to you by the Harbour Theatre Inc., Harbour Theatre, within ‘Camelot’, 16 Lochee Street, Mosman.

The performance is two hours long and can be seen on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday evenings until Saturday 6^th August at 7.30 pm, with Sunday matinees on Sunday 31^st July, Saturday 6^th and Sunday 7^th August at 2.00 pm.

The setting is an island (possibly in the Philippines?) during World War II. The stage is a sandy seashore. There is a lagoon on the stage apron. A mountain has been erected on each of the auditorium’s side aisles. The set has numerous palm trees, lianas and branches. A large piece of plane wing lies on the beach.

This is a difficult scene to create on the stage (designer Sarah Christiner, with construction co-ordinated by Brian Mahoney), but some very innovative ideas have been employed to give a most satisfactory result.

The complex lighting design was well thought out and operated by Aaron Smith. Evan ‘Zany Flash’ Skinner was in charge of the dramatic soundscape. His choice of threatening music was superb; throughout the play, there were also passages of low rumbling notes that shook the auditorium seats, giving a real sense of foreboding.

     We can hear the chatter of schoolchildren as they board a steam train taking them to the airport. It is World War II, so the children are being sent far away from home. There is the massive roar of powerful plane engines as the children head for safety. It is not long before we hear the plane, packed with boys from several schools, skydive onto a deserted island. None of the teachers survive.

     As self-assured survivor, Ralph (Niall Coyle) wanders the beach, where he meets a tubby, intelligent, but shy asthmatic boy, Piggy (Charlie Young). Then, from the bushes emerge a group of boys donned in full, choir-school uniform and black gowns; a bullyboy, Jack Merridew (David Heder), leads them. Jack is a school prefect who has a lot to say, yet seemed to be lacking in self-assurance. Ralph is chosen as leader of all the boys and they go searching for inhabitants and food.

     Aggressive Jack and his schoolmates, including the introverted and nervous Simon (Connor Brown), find a pig and Simon squirms as the others kill it. Even though they all feel empowered, Piggy announces that in order to retain harmony, only the person holding a conch shell that they have found, will be allowed to talk. Steeling Piggy’s spectacles to focus the sunlight, a fire is lit on the nearby hill, in hope that the smoke will be seen by passing ships. Unable to cope without his glasses, Piggy talks to twin brothers Sam (Lachlan Felstead) and Eric (Charlie Martin), two youngsters who finish each other’s sentences.

     The young boys, the ‘littluns’, Henry (Finn Mallett, alternates nights with Jacob Clayton), Bill (Shane Marshall) and Perceval (Elijah Styles, alternates with Luke Callaghan) go searching for food with one of the older boys, Maurice (Caelan Steedman) who being totally unaware of their dire circumstances, looks upon the whole disaster as a fun game, with him as an African Chief. They meet another young boy who staggers out of the bushes; he is Roger (Jamie Buttery) an aggressive boy with a mean streak.

     When Piggy berates Jack for allowing the fire to go out, Jack and his closest friend start their own group and move to the other side of the island where they become savages.

     Will the boys ever be rescued? Alternatively, is a terrible fate awaiting them? Will the illusive beast attack?

Paul Knight has an important cameo part.

Director Sarah Christiner must be brave or mad. Of all the easy plays she could have tackled, Sarah has chosen a serious, complex drama with a large cast of ‘children’. A play that requires a clear distinction between depravity and decency coupled with gut reaction and balanced thought.

Next, she was faced with producing a realistic jungle environment, and a team of young actors capable of coping with large chunks of the script, whilst convincingly depicting their subliminal fears and their descent into the darker side of nature. This play, although written 60 years ago, is still as relevant today with peer pressure still being a major controlling factor, featuring in a school kid’s life.

The boys, who were keen to do their own makeup, were instructed by Nicole Miller, Harry Wake and Kelci Coyle. It was subtle enough to look as though there were days of dirt built up on the boys’ bodies – although their parents may say it was there before.

Sarah employed the whole theatre as her stage. By surrounding the audience with actors, missiles and menacing sounds, the tension was raised a couple of notches. The boys were amazing, with most of them capturing their multifaceted characters completely. The play is two hours long, with almost every member of the cast on stage all of the time, and yet the boys maintained their drive and interaction perfectly. With a major climax at the end of the play, I was worried that they would run out of steam or lose some of their malice, but to their credit, they were word perfect and the chemistry wonderful. Perhaps a little more projection of the dialogue would help, but I saw the final rehearsal so it could have been nerves, as many of the actors have had little previous experience.

It is a most difficult play to stage, but thanks to a huge amount of work, the result was admirable. A good play for teenagers to see, warning them of how easy it is to be sucked in by society.

Director Sarah’s courage paid off wonderfully. Congratulations to all.