Spooky, ooky and kooky - brilliant production of The Addams Family musical from Scarborough Theatre Company on at the Spa

While you do not get the opening-credit song familiar from the Sixties TV series – you do get to click your fingers and cheer members of Scarborough Theatre Company to the Spa rafters for its staging of the modern musical version of the small screen classic.

Founder and artistic director of the company Alex Weatherhill made his intentions clear with his first production The Hunchback of Notre Dame at Queen Street last year – musical theatre in the town was moving forward, writes Sue Wilkinson.

Out was Rodgers and Hammerstein, stetsons and swirling skirts, lonely goat herds and love-sick sailors and in was … well … anything that wasn’t that.

Addams is the first time the company has staged a musical at the Scarborough Spa and as with Hunchback, Weatherhill makes the most of the space. As the action plays out under the proscenium arch, a Gothic ‘Greek’ chorus backs the main players from the balcony – and the cast, literally, dances in the aisles.

The plot of the show is simple – weird Wednesday Addams wants to marry Lucas who comes from a ‘normal family’ and has invited Lucas and his parents to dinner with her family. Wednesday’s brother Pugsley serves a truth drug and the occasion turns into a rocky horror show.

The leads are fabulous: Martin Richardson’s passionate Gomez, Sarah Jane Cox’s maleficent Morticia, Flynn Denton a perfectly petulant Pugsley, Jeanette Dupont-Law the crazed crazy grandma, Dominic Hulme the simple soul that is Uncle Fester and Dave Blaker as the monosyllabic Lurch.

The chemistry between Tilly Jackson as Wednesday and her often leading man Connor Canvess as Lucas fizzes with mischief and malevolence in equal measure.

Andrew Clay, promoted from chorus ranks to leading role, plays uptight Mal Beineke. and Rebecca Kelly-Evans is a delight as Alice Beineke throwing off the shackles.

Not a show with the most memorable of numbers, there is still a lot of song and dance to enjoy: particularly Gomez and Morticia’s passionate tango, Morticia’s showstopper Just Around the Coroner and When You’re an Addams.

The choir makes for ‘a wall of sound’ around the auditorium and the dancers excel in choreography by Lauren Exley.

For a half hour before curtain up, the cast sing songs in tune with the spooky show. It was an immersive, inventive, exciting and magical entertainment and experience, beautifully, ethereally costumed with performances of outstanding quality.

Do not misunderstand: I love the Sound of Music, South Pacific, the nostalgia of Me and My Girl, the grittiness of Guys and Dolls but musical theatre, like all art forms, evolves, and so does audience expectation.

Weatherhill is ensuring Scarborough Theatre Company is at the forefront of what is on offer on our town’s stages – Kinky Boots is his autumn production which will see the company perform the Stephen Joseph Theatre for the first time.

The Addams Family is at Scarborough Spa on Friday February 24 at 7.30pm; Saturday February 25 at 2.30pm and 7.30pm and Sunday February 26 at 2.30pm.

Tickets via www.scarboroughspa.co.uk www.scbo.co.uk or on 07434 434759.

Cast:

Martin Richardson, Gomez; Sarah Jane Cox, Morticia; Dominic Hulme, Fester; Tilly Jackson, Wednesday; Dylan Freddie and Flynn Denton, Pugsley; Jeanette Dupont-Law, Grandma; Dave Blaker, Lurch; Rebecca Kelly-Evans, Alice; Andrew Clay, Mal; Connor Canvess, Lucas.

Dancestors

Katie Buttner; Mike Seals-Law; Rebecca Seals-Law; Antonia Bellamy; Megan Brewster; Lucy Butterfield; Lauren MacDonald; Amy Morely; Erin Russ; George Schmuck and Georgina Tubbs.

Ancestors:

Paul Buttner, Tim Tubbs, Alice Ashby, Danielle Blakely, Emily Core, Lottie Grey, Kathryn Irwin, Elaine Minns, Pauline Newman, Gemma Noble, Linda Polkowski, Myrrhine Taylor, Janet Thompson, Lydia Trotter and Lee Ure.

Creative team

Alex Weatherhill, director; Andrew Davison, musical director and Lauren Exley, choreographer.