"The Addams Family" has been creeping in and out of popular culture since the late 1930’s when Charles Addams first published a few of his macabre cartoons in the New Yorker Magazine. They have appeared in a popular ’60’s TV show, cartoons, video games, movies, and of course a musical, now being staged masterfully in the round at the Mac-Hayden Theatre.
Chatham itself, just west of the New York/Massachusetts line, is one of those hamlets which, if the word “quaint” were not already in our lexicon, we would have to add it to describe. The theatre is a jewel in a rural setting just off Main Street. It provides an immersive experience with some of the most inventive and spellbinding lighting and sound design (courtesy of Andrew Gmoser and Sean McGinley, respectively) short of Broadway.
The production brings to life the well-known cast of characters – Gomez the passionate romantic, his adoring and adorable wife Morticia, darkly clad daughter Wednesday and impish son Pugsley, along with enthusiastic Uncle Fester, feisty Grandmama and the lumbering Lurch. The book is by Marshall Brickman, the comedic writer behind a number of movies, along with Rick Elice, the creative consultant for Disney Studios for years. As directed by Steve Edlund, the story focuses on Wednesday's love interest in a “normal” young man. It sets the stage for a meeting of the parents.
Gabe Belyeu is a great Gomez, equally adept at both wordplay and swordplay. He is torn between telling his “amore” Morticia (Madison Stratton) of the offspring's intention to wed, and his oath to Wednesday not to spill the beans prematurely.
The comfort and chemistry between Belyeu and Stratton are apparent at once and remain evident throughout. It is obvious the two talented thespians have performed with and off each other in earlier productions and have a fondness one for the other that sweetly informs their scenes together.
Jack Holick (youthful but experienced and talented beyond his years) does an at times hilarious and touching turn as Pugsley. Grace Mauldin imbues her portrayal of Wednesday with tenderness, resolve and determination to wed her betrothed. The two also showcase a couple of “torture” scenes including just the right amount of foreboding and mutual fondness. Comedian/magician Jeffrey Jene is perfectly cast as the eccentric Uncle Fester, equipped with his trademark piehole-powered lightbulb, bald pate and shapeless black shroud. The shroud, however, is magically transformed into a sparkling rainbow-infused garment during a superb scene in Act II that in a certain manner literally explains Fester’s perceived lunacy.
Filling out the main cast of Addams are a cackling Carol Charniga as the centenarian-plus Grandma, and amply altitudinal athlete/actor Aryell Beaulieu-Shaffer who brings height as well as some depth to the lugubrious Lurch.
Steve Taylor and Erin Spears Ledford as the parents of Wednesday’s intended Lucas go from button-downed to unbuttoned due to their exposure to the Addams family as well as their realization of their true selves. And Will Forrest presents an earnest turn as Lucas himself.
Mention must be made of “the ancestors,” a group of ensemble actors who are each given a ghostly getup that hints of their untimely demise. They act at times as a Greek chorus and as a propulsive device for the waxing and waning of the relationships throughout the production.
