The Addams Family: The Musical Comedy at London Palladium
Among beloved fictional families, Charles Addam’s Addams Family is a firm favourite. The mischievously macabre household have survived for nearly 90 years across several television shows, animated series and feature films. Irrepressible, they have delighted audiences with their maudlin camp, low raunchiness and unabashed attitude towards all things dreary and despairing. Regretfully, this live concert of the musical comedy adaptation for the London Palladium is a disappointing revival for the infamous clan.
Unexpected trouble occurs when Wednesday Addams (Chumisa Dornford-May in her West End debut) falls in love with American teen Lucas Beineke (Ryan Kopel). It’s a headache for parents Morticia (Michelle Visage) and Gomez (Ramin Karimloo) as the two engaged lovebirds arrange for their parents to meet at the Addams’s abominable abode. Can Lucas’ prudish mother and father (Kara Lane and Sean Kingsley) get along with the spookiest, kookiest family in New York?
So grotesquely theatrical are the Addams that a reinvented vaudevillian appearance for London’s West End seemed inevitable. However, composer Andrew Lippa’s musical score and Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice’s script struggle to deliver many genuine laughs or catchy numbers that live up to the legacy. Only Morticia’s act two solo Just Around the Corner offers the witty twisted humour fans of the family might expect.
The production isn’t helped by the stripped-down stage design for his concert performance, though perhaps this is understandable for the limited two-night run. This restricts Matthew White and Alistair David’s choices for both direction and choreography, alongside the lack of atmospheric set pieces from the 2017 and 2021 UK tours. The Ancestors ensemble wanders distractingly upstage or near the wings when they’re not creeping on for repetitively choreographed whirling and twirling dance routines (alternately with long wooden sticks).
However, the principal performances do stand up. Visage and Karimloo’s enthusiasm often recreate the chemistry of the long-besotted, corpse-like couple. Alongside Sam Buttery’s affectionate Uncle Fester, they keep the audience regaled. Though Dornford-May has to perform an uncharacteristically stroppy teenager rendering of the deliciously deadpan daughter, her vocals are impressive. Veteran Lesley Joseph is reliably pantomimic as the family’s dearest harridan, though she and Nicholas McLean’s Pugsley are side-lined in the second act.
No doubt some devotees will find The Addams Family: The Musical Comedy a raucous return to the irreverent brood, though for this fan it didn’t deliver the devilish delight that the Addams Family are renowned for.
James Humphrey
Images: Pamela Raith
The Addams Family: The Musical Comedy is at London Palladium from 12th until 13th February 2024. For further information or to book visit the theatre’s website here.
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