As you can imagine, dear reader, it can be rather hard for a critic to talk about a night at the theatre without spoiling the plot of the play, or the musical, that he is reviewing, though there are ways of getting around it. However, when one wants to talk – and focus many of the negative comments – about the second act almost exclusively, the common workarounds that one has developed over the years are far less effective. One doesn’t want to be too theoretical or generic, for instance, and thus lose any sense of meaning and clarity, and in the process nullify whole swathes of the review into oblivion. Neither does one want to be too specific, and therefore take all the mystery out of an event, like telling someone watching a delayed broadcast of a boxing stoush who won. No, one must appeal to the reader, one must ask for them to trust you when you say you are right, but can’t give very good reasons for it. And I do that now.
Because the problem with The Addams Family – the latest musical to hit the Capitol Theatre stage – is all to do with the plot in the second half of the show. Like virtually any musical to grace any stage in any city on the globe, The Addams Family follows the tried and true formula – which is no bad thing, mind you – of ending the first half on the precipice of disaster.
Will chaos be averted, one wonders? Will there be a happy ending? Will I get a Choc Top or a packet of Maltesers? One cannot wait to find out what happens next. Yet when we did find out what happened next, the only reaction that this critic had was one of near-neutrality. You see, after an interval, things need to spiral out of control a bit more, things need to keep happening – and these events cannot be part of the final resolution. That is, the road to recovery for all the characters in a comedy should not appear until much nearer towards the end than the rising of the curtain on the second half. Unfortunately, this is precisely what happened. Yes, I exaggerate slightly, for there were one or two moments in the right direction – although they were half-hearted at best – but, on the whole, the second act was merely a succession of scenes where pretty much everything finally started going right for the characters. Relationships were mended, misunderstandings were understood, and so on. Twenty minutes of this is acceptable – an entire hour isn’t. It felt a bit like going to watch a murder mystery and having the entire second half taken up with an explanation of how the detective solved the murder.
Thankfully, everything else in the production almost entirely makes up for the problems with the plot (problems with a plot that had, from what one can gather on that ephemeral theatre grapevine, already been tweaked since the production on Broadway). The Addams Family is one of the funniest shows you can see in Sydney at the moment, and this is largely due to a script that is sharper than a razor with an IQ of 160. Gomez (John Waters) and Morticia (Chloe Dallimore) have some excellent banter and wonderful one liners – Waters really shines in the role. Russell Dykstra as Uncle Fester, too, does a fantastic job, acting in part as a narrator of proceedings.
The story itself is interesting enough – for the first act at least. What I can tell you – as phobic of spoilers as I am – is that Wednesday Addams (Teagan Wouters) has found herself a boyfriend, Lucas Beineke (Tim Maddren, who some may be familiar with from Hi-5) and wishes for each other’s parents to meet. Lucas’ parents are a typical wholesome American unit, whereas Wednesday’s family is so off-centre that left and right don’t even make sense any more. The parents meet, complications abound, and hilarity begins. (But the humour doesn’t contain itself to the dialogue alone, it should be mentioned; there is plenty of slapstick and sight gags to keep the laugh-meter ticking over.)
The songs, too, are rather catchy, and most are above average, though a few in the second act were a tad tedious, but perhaps that’s because I found that parts of the second act dragged, rather than the songs being the cause. The dancing, too, is quite remarkable, and all the leads are in on the act, with a surprisingly small chorus, made up exclusively of ancestors summoned to watch over the events of the night. Dressed in white, with white powder on their faces, they complement the rest of the set – a spectacular backdrop of the New York skyline from the viewpoint of Central Park, and a bundle of rooms in the Addams family house, where not everything is at it seems, and so on.
If the second act didn’t have the problems it did, then The Addams Family would be an instant classic, destined to live on throughout the many years of musical theatre to come. As it is, it’s merely a very entertaining night out at the theatre – which isn’t a bad thing at all. Just have your clicking fingers at the ready: da da da dum – click click!
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
The Addams Family – The Broadway Musical
Based on the cartoons of Charles Addams
Book: Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice
Music & Lyrics: Andrew Lippa
Director: Jerry Zaks
Original Direction & Design: Phelim McDermott
Choreographer: Sergio Trujillo
Cast includes: John Waters, Chloe Dallimore, Russell Dykstra, Ben Hudson, Meredith O’Reilly, Tony Harvey, Katrina Retallick and Tim Maddren
Capitol Theatre, Sydney
Until 5 May
