When The Addams Family first creaked onto the Broadway stage in 2010, critics buried it with remarkable speed. The New York Times dubbed it ‘a tepid goulash’ of sitcom gags and sentimental sludge; Variety called it ‘bland, static and glum’. And yet, thanks to a beloved brand and Nathan Lane’s game performance as Gomez, it survived for 20 months and went on to become one of the most performed shows globally.
Watching this UK touring production, it’s easy to understand why the original faced such a critical mauling – and harder to understand how it’s still being revived without significant reinvention. This version coasts on name recognition, some impressive vocals and the vague promise of spooky fun, but ends up feeling more embalmed than alive.
The plot is thin but functional: Wednesday Addams has fallen in love with a sweet, thoroughly normal boy and invites his parents over for dinner. Cue awkward conversations, buried secrets and mild attempts at emotional growth. It’s a set-up ripe for comedy and character – but here it’s flattened by overextended gags, toothless sentimentality and a score so forgettable it barely registers.
Ricardo Afonso makes a likeable Gomez – warm and vocally assured – and does a decent job holding the thing together. But Alexandra Burke’s Morticia is a more puzzling presence. A performer known for vocal power, she seems oddly underpowered here – both vocally and dramatically. The role calls for cool elegance with bite; Burke delivers the former, but never locates the wit or weirdness beneath the glamour. The result is curiously flat.
Lauren Jones (Wednesday) is the vocal standout, especially in her solo ‘Pulled’, but, again, the performance feels emotionally surface-level. There’s little sense of internal conflict or genuine stakes – a problem that runs through most of the cast. The characterisation is broad but not bold, cartoonish but not clever. Everyone seems stuck in a version of the show where quirks are worn like costumes rather than lived in.
Kara Lane delivers an incredible vocal performance as Alice Beineke, the straight-laced mother-in-law-to-be who, after accidentally ingesting a truth serum, bursts into surreal poetry and erratic table-dancing. Dickon Gough gets a few well-timed laughs as Lurch.
The Addams Family: vague and unnecessary movement
The ensemble of ‘Addams ancestors’ – ghostly figures in period dress spanning various historical eras – may look atmospheric on paper, but mostly clutter the stage. Choreographed by Alistair David, they drift around with precise, rehearsed movements that add little except distraction. The movement feels ghostly in the least interesting sense: vague and unnecessary.
A bizarre and highly unusual incident brought Birmingham’s opening night to a standstill midway through Act Two. For around 10 minutes, a member of the audience screamed loudly and repeatedly, forcing the cast to leave the stage while Hippodrome staff calmly and efficiently managed the situation. The seamless way Afonso and Jones then resumed their duet – without hesitation or loss of focus – was a remarkable display of composure under pressure. Both the Hippodrome staff’s professionalism in handling such a disruptive event and the cast’s poised recovery deserve full commendation.
And, despite the forgettable songs, the thin characterisation and the uneven tone – the audience loved it. There were cheers, laughter and a warm reception at the curtain call. Nostalgia, it seems, is a powerful thing.
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But affection alone can’t hide the fact that this is a middling show in a middling production. It’s not strange enough to be funny, not sincere enough to be moving, and not confident enough to be either. What remains is a show that keeps resurrecting itself, zombie-like, on the strength of its name – and in this case, that’s about all it has.
The Addams Family
Birmingham Hippodrome, Birmingham
Director: Matthew White
Designer: Diego Pitarch
Choreographer: Alistair David
Musical Supervisor and Orchestrator: Richard Beadle
Sound Designer: Richard Brooker
Lighting Designer: Ben Cracknell
Cast: Alexandra Burke, Lesley Joseph, Clive Rowe, Ricardo Afonso, Lauren Jones, Nicholas McLean, Jacob Fowler, Kara Lane, Dale Rapley, Dickon Gough, Jak Allen-Anderson, Abigail Brodie, Eamonn Cox, J R Ballantyne, Siobhan Diffin, Maria Garrett, Chloe Gentles, Sario Solomon
After playing at the Birmingham Hippodrome on 10-12 July, The Addams Family will tour throughout August to Leicester, Salford, Canterbury and Blackpool.
