Ba-da-da-dum. *snapsnap*
Ba-da-da-dum. *snapsnap*
Ba-da-da-dum. Ba-da-da-dum. Ba-da-da-dum. *snapsnap*
Spooky season my be over according to the calendar, but it’s just beginning over at Children’s Theatre of Annapolis as they bring to life their long-awaited and highly anticipated production of The Addams Family. *snapsnap* Directed by Atticus Boidy with Musical Direction by Emily L. Sergo and Choreography by Kristin Rigsby, you’re in for a creepy and kooky, mysterious and spooky— and all together ookey production of The Addams Family.
Director Atticus Boidy, working alongside Costume Manager Tracy Rinehart and Set Designer Todd Croteau, has envisioned a phenomenal hybrid notion for what this production of The Addams Family should look like. All the hallmarks are there— the creepy, the spooky, the macabre— but it’s just a little off-kilter in the most amusing and peculiarly intriguing way possible. The set itself has a comic-strip feel about it; everything from the elaborate framework that decorates the proscenium arch to the moldering printed wallpapers in shades of zombie-flesh green or blood-thirsty red. Boidy and Croteau’s set helps to engage the imagination of the audience, priming theatergoers for the rollicking experience of fun in which they’re about to partake.
The costumes deserve a series of praises all their own because they are both the signature styles of gothic morbidity that you find among the key players of The Addams Family and yet also take a step outside the proverbial coffin-shaped box. This is most notable in the Ancestor ensemble where instead of the suggested listing of ancestors (and of course there are still a few, like the Bride, The Flapper, and the Caveman) Boidy, Rinehart, and the cast work to find characters and costumes that best befit their personalities, like a baseball player, a court jester, mad scientist, and a ballerina! Boidy further brings unique flare to the sartorial selection of the show by homing in on one particular line delivered in one of Wednesday Addams’ songs. “…can’t we muse a bit and lose the basic black…” from the number “One Normal Night.” Boidy takes that to hear and from the time the outsider-family (The Beinekes) arrive at The Addams home, Gomez and Morticia are no longer draped and decked in ebony and shades of night. Morticia in particular is worth noting because her intentionally leg-restricting dress is now spiked and spiced through with flares of lusty, robust red. This reads beautifully by the time the character reaches “Tango de Amor” late in the second act and doubles up as an expression of the fiery, angry approach the actor has taken to the character.
Musically the production is impressive. Musical Director Emily L. Sergo, who conducts the pit (and constantly has wayward props flying at her head from the stage as a part of the show’s quirky humor) and brings the actors together in vocal harmonies that sound superb, has put a stamp of accomplishment on this production. The harmonies that roll out of some of the more tricky duets— like “Crazier Than You”— come across clean and clear, blending naturally thanks to Sergo’s work. And when the full ensemble sings in numbers like “Full Disclosure” you get a real sense of the hearty talented voices at work in this cast.
Kristin Rigsby’s choreography settles well on the young actors, all of whom are roughly middle school through high school aged, all with varying degrees of dancing experience. The fun numbers include “Trapped” where a handful of the Ancestor Ensemble dance around Gomez with their picture frames, literally using the portraiture to ‘trap’ him at the end of the song. (The portrait frames are a unique concept overlaid by Director Atticus Boidy, giving context to these ancestor-ghosts. You see the empty portrait frames hanging in the background of the show’s scenery and then you occasionally see the ancestors walking around carrying their portrait frames, symbolizing that they are always watching no matter what part of the home they are in.) And also “Secrets” which features the other ancestors (not seen in “Trapped”) dancing around with Morticia, including a very fantastical marching pinwheel. The crowning jewel in Rigsby’s choreography is “Tango de Amor” where we see four ancestor couples plus Morticia and Gomez displaying a very saucy and sensual tango dance, complete with a ‘challenge’ for the boys and the girls to dance-it-out.
Director Atticus Boidy has made the production his own unique entity while staying true to multiple incarnations of The Addams Family. The set and costume choices being the most obvious markers that he has placed on the show marking it as his own creative design, but that does not preclude character direction and casting choices. Morticia (Erica Yamaner) and Wednesday (Rosalie Hess) are more alike than either character could ever care to admit. They’re both boiling mad, exploding over at the littlest instance and shrieking their way through most of the show, letting their inner fiery fury be on full display rather than tucked away in dry deadpan and sarcasm as is seen most often in the portrayal of these two characters. Both Yamaner, as the family matriarch Morticia, and Hess as the moody daughter Wednesday, have powerful pipes which they put on display for all to hear in their respective solos— “Secrets” & “Just Around the Corner” for Morticia and “Pulled” for Wednesday.
Boidy’s most distinguished choice as far as casting goes is using Sage Shanahan for Lurch. Shanahan, by no stretch of the imagination (shoes or not), is not the lumbering, eight-foot-tall gargantuan figure audiences have come to expect from Lurch. Instead he is the most zombified and uniquely fascinating embodiment of the iconic butler to tread the boards. Playing more fully into the ‘zombified’ physicality and utilizing a super-cool ‘dead-eye’ white contact in one eye, Shanahan has the audience fully convinced that he is Lurch, the speechless butler (who even gets an extra-awesome expository ‘grunt-session’ when being introduced to the Beinekes.) Keep an ear out for Shanahan’s singing voice near the end of the production in “Move Toward the Darkness”; he’s got a sound that is pleasantly surprising.
As previously mentioned, there are some textbook ancestors— The Bride (Katie Blackwell), The Caveman (Cole German), The Flapper (Cai Malone)— and then there are some uniquely clever and creative ones— The Chef (Liam DeVries), The Baseball Player (Logan Masters), The Jester (Ronnie McIntyre), The Clown (Ryan McCandless), The Magician (Niki Pippin), The Mad Scientist (Justin Porath), The Pirate (Helena Gray Tawil), The Ballerina (Cate Weiss)— all of whom come together to make for a spectacular supporting ensemble, whether its dancing through various musical numbers or providing critical ‘scenic guidance’ during the Fester or Wednesday and Lucas scenes. (When The Addams Family musical was drastically rewritten for the national tour, the ancestors became a far more integral part of the plot’s inner workings and they collectively serve as a Deus ex Machina of sorts, bringing one of the plot threads to a happy-ish conclusion while simultaneously being Greek Chorus-style observers and advancers.) Cate Weiss, the Ballerina ancestor, serves as the company’s dance captain and gets to show off her thrilling skills— including pointe work— during “The Moon & Me” where she becomes the physical embodiment of ‘the moon’ and shares a delicate dance with Uncle Fester.
It wouldn’t be a true Addams Family without the quirky members of the family like little brother Pugsley (Teaghan McLaughlin) or crazy Grandma Addams (Layla Bunch.) While the Grandma Addams character no longer has a song (thanks, national-touring-rewrites!) Bunch does a fine job at letting you know she’s the kooky, crazy old bat hanging around the family. She gives us a gruff voice, a quirky personality, and has fun with her scene at the dinner table during “Full Disclosure.” Teaghan McLaughlin, as the precocious and real strange Pugsley Addams is a delight to watch, even though the character also has limited vocalization in regard to singing. McLaughlin puts a serene and striking soprano sound into “What If” a song stared by Gomez but finished by Pugsley and has a fabulous mini-solo during “Full Disclosure” that gives the audience a real feel for the plucky punch of the mischievous Pugsley character.
While not technically family, The Beinekes— Mal (Blake Martin), Alice (Finola Quinn), and Lucas (Andrew Wilson)— are as much a part of the story as the ancestors or the Addams’ themselves! Blake Martin as the uptight, rigid Mal Beineke, displays the biggest character growth of the entire production. Watching him go from spastically furious over not being ‘a New York weirdo’ into the headbanger-Harry sort is great fun. And Andrew Wilson, as the awkwardly non-impulsive romantic lead playing opposite Wednesday Addams, gets quite a few chances for his vocal prowess to shine, once in “One Normal Night” and again in the duet “Crazier Than You.” It’s Finola Quinn, as Alice Beineke, who steals the sunshine in this family, really belting her face off and totally owning the character meltdown during “Waiting.” Her antics and delivery during this number are stunning and the vocal chops she brings to the table (literally…she’s on the table) are phenomenal.
Let’s not talk about anything else but— Fester? Played with astonishing quirkiness by Finn Hintermister, this Fester is the narrative glue, the ghostly guidance, and the ghoulish glee that holds the show together. The character of Fester comes with such a high bar of expectations, one that I am beyond pleased to say Finn Hintermister soars right over. He’s got a unique vocal affectation in play, the makeup (assisted by Hair & Makeup person Tracy Finney) is on-point for this curious creature, and the physicality that Hintermister brings to the table is second to none. There are several ‘direct-to-audience’ moments that Hintermister nails sublimely, really giving the audience the feel that he’s invested in bringing these instances directly into your lap (whilst maintaining appropriate social distance of course!) And when he sings, whether it’s his various manifestos (all of which are variations on the Broadway original “Let’s Not Talk About Anything Else But Love”) or his big solo number, “The Moon & Me” (originally scripted for Broadway as a ‘filler’ scene), Hintermister is an audience favorite with singing, dancing, and acting skills to be envied.
The show’s ultimate wow-factor comes in the format of Gomez Florencia Addams (Liam O’Toole.) He can sing. He can dance! He can do an outrageously crazy accent whilst paying homage to all the great Gomezes who came before him and have yet to come after him while simultaneously making the character all his own! What more could one hope for from a Gomez Addams? Liam O’Toole has found a fascinating way to make Gomez Addams all his own while simultaneously embodying the spirits of Nathan Lane, Raul Julia, John Astin, Tim Curry, and a great many others. This is an impressive feat as at least two of those actors are still alive! There are little bits of O’Toole’s performance that nod, wink, and eyebrow-waggle at all of the great Gomez’ of screen and stage past while there are other moments that are truly the Liam O’Toole Gomez. It’s truly a marvel and a wonder to experience. The facial expressions alone are well worth watching, not to mention his fully expressive body language. O’Toole fully understands the comic nuances of the character, knowing when to push it to campy levels, when to dial it back more subtly, and when to fall somewhere in the middle. His vocal prowess is second to none in the production and his soul-stirring solo “Happy/Sad” will bring a tear to your eyes, showcasing his ability to provide versatility to such an odd character. “Not Today” puts the fiery passionate side of O’Toole’s Gomez on display and every time he has an interaction with a character, a scene, or a musical number, you find yourself unable to take your eyes off of his every move, word, step, and song. Made for the role, Liam O’Toole wears the character of Gomez Addams as if it were always his, even better than a second skin.
Remember, it’s family first and family last and family by and by— when you’re an Addams, you do what Addams’ do— which is get tickets to see The Addams Family at Children’s Theatre of Annapolis. You won’t want to miss this one; it’s a creepy, kooky, spectacular like no other.
Running Time: Approximately 2 hours and 20 minutes with one intermission
The Addams Family plays through November 21, 2021 at Children’s Theatre of Annapolis— 1661 Bay Head Road in Annapolis, MD. For tickets, please call the box office at (410) 757-2281 or purchase them online.
