Skip to main content

Review of The Addams Family Musical: School Edition (Team Cousin IT) at the Cripps Hall Theatre, Northampton

I first saw the stage musical version of The Addams Family five years ago, and this, the school edition presented by NMTC Youth Society offered an intriguing prospect of how the somewhat dark humour that the main show might have been toned down.

It came as quite a delight, in the end, to discover that, mostly, it hadn’t been toned down at all. Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice’s book, and Andrew Lippa’s lyrics, constantly relish in death and the methods of. And in a very subtle, and clever moment, the show even has a covid joke, which for once, I actually liked. The shows can stop doing it now though.

Gomez is of course the main player in this musical, and what a truly brilliant performance Joe Jeffery brings to the stage. It is a total show of confidence and his stage presence is brilliant for someone so young. I also absolutely loved his comic timing, making the most of every little joke in the show. Hatti Taylor equally shines as Morticia, a slinky and stylish performance, which relishes in the deadpan look of the character. Both also perform their songs with extremely impressive vocal abilities, and Jeffery shows a brilliant skill with his accents and mickey-taking moments, which the audience loved.

Lily-Grace Tofte (who I remember shining on stage as young Cossette a few years back in Les Misérables, and slightly more recently in the adult company show Made in Dagenham) continues to dazzle with confidence as Wednesday, and her unquestionable vocal skills are on full display in several songs. Elsie Lovell provides a great amount of fun as her torture loving brother Pugsley as well and brings a great deal of depth to the character.

Clearly having a lot of fun on stage is Winter Wilmot as Uncle Fester, and serving also as our narrator for the show. I have to admit, that the whole moon storyline that Fester has in the show does not convince me, but with Wilmot’s performance, it at least is provided with some poignancy and charm.

Much like the character did in the adult version, Lurch, lurches across the stage in constant scene-stealing moments, and Isaac Standage in the role takes his chance with great humour.

Finally, for special mention from the cast is Zachary Pilkington as Mal, a brilliantly contrasting performance, but to say more, would be a spoiler. Let’s just say, he gives a fabulous performance.

There was very little to criticise from the show as a youth production, and mostly any minor issues were technical ones with some slightly sluggish scene changes and a few wayward spotlights. However, for a show that has a great deal going on, it was mostly brilliantly executed.

The show is on stage again on Sunday 10th April, with this team performing the evening performance, with this afternoon Team Thing is in action and I am looking forward to seeing what this different cast brings to the show.

Click your fingers and magic up some tickets while you can.

⭐⭐⭐⭐


Performance reviewed: Saturday 9th April 2022 (matinee) at the Cripps Hall Theatre, Northampton.

The Addams Family: School Edition runs until Sunday 10th April at the Cripps Hall Theatre and details can be found at https://www.northamptonmusicaltheatrecompany.co.uk/youth/

The Addams Family is an NMTC YOUTH SOCIETY PRODUCTION

Production photos: Ashleigh Standage


Popular posts from this blog

Review of Murder She Didn't Write at Royal & Derngate (Royal), Northampton

Murder She Didn't Write , stopping off for a four-day run at Royal & Derngate on a lengthy UK tour, treads the now well-worn path of an improvisational evening of theatre entertainment. Unsurprisingly, from the title, this show from Degrees of Error's takes a murder mystery as its inspiration, with the story influenced by ideas from the audience each evening. Due to this, Murder She Didn't Write and a review are very much an individual affair. What I saw in my evening at the theatre will differ significantly from what the audience will see the following evening; however, the fine performers will remain. The touring cast, in no particular order, is Lizzy Skrzypiec, Rachael Procter-Lane, Peter Baker, Caitlin Campbell, Stephen Clements, Douglas Walker, Harry Allmark, Rosalind Beeson, Sylvia Bishop, Emily Brady, Alice Lamb, Sara Garrard, Peta Maurice and Matthew Whittle. For my performance, Skrzypiec, Procter-Lane, Baker, Walker, Bishop, and Clements were on stage alongsid...

Review of Immune by R&D Youth Theatre at Royal & Derngate (Royal), Northampton

The cover note for the script of Oladipo Agboluaje's Immune describes it as "a challenging science fiction play with a large cast", and the word challenging in this case is not a lie. This is a fast paced, multi-cast changing script which leaves little room for error for its young cast in the performance. If the script isn't enough to handle for the young performers, director Christopher Elmer-Gorry and designer Carl Davies have made the situation even more complex for the actors with the set and stage work. Having to manhandle great panels on wheels and a huge cube, which also splits in two occasionally, during scene changes requires skill, coordination and cooperation of a high level. As if all this is not enough, the actual story is epic enough for the relatively small stage of the Royal. Attempting to form an apocalyptic world (albeit only happening in Plymouth) offers challenges in itself, but Agboluaje's script does that in a sort of apocalypse in the teac...

Review of UoN Fringe 2019: Working For The Man by Naked Truth Theatre at The Platform Club, Northampton

When looking at the prospect of the Fringe performance Working For The Man , it is slightly difficult to work out who is the bravest person involved in this remarkable one performer, one audience member show set totally within or around the edges of a car. I guess I would in my case, say myself, but it takes some daring for performer Ellie Lomas of Naked Truth Theatre to also create a piece that offers the boldness that it does. Working for the Man is perhaps unsurprisingly about the sex trade, and explores exploitation and how, or if, prostitution is taken as a serious profession. It involves no live audio dialogue from performer Ellie Lomas, instead, she inhabits a purely physical performance, that is progressed by the use of a pair of headphones which you are given at the start. Across this audio are instructions of what to do. "Get in the car", "sit in the middle seat in the back", "open the glove compartment" etc, as you move to different areas ...