At last, thanks to the Royal Conservatory of Scotland, the UK gets the chance to see a fully staged version of an Andrew Lippa musical. This show ran for just under two years on Broadway in 2010/11 and it is sad that it has not crossed the Atlantic sooner. It gets a rather lavish (for the Fringe) production, with a perfect Gothic set and a large company. At first it seems that the dark and weird humour of Marshall Brickman’s book (adapted from Charles Addams’ strip cartoons) will not gel with Lippa’s uplifting, traditional Broadway style score, but everything comes together well as the show progresses, with plenty of good jokes and excellent songs. The very slight plot involves the Addams daughter, Wednesday, becoming engaged to marry a “normal” guy. Martin Murphy looks a very young Gomez, but he is splendid, milking the laughs, singing and even dancing a mean Tango with Morticia (Kristel Harder at this performance). All the other performers excel in a production which has a polished, professional feel throughout. This show is good, undemanding fun and, as for Andrew Lippa, more please!
Performance date: 12 August 2014
The Beast's Pen 