Addams Family in town
GHOULS IN RESIDENCE
You can choose your friends but you sure can't choose your family. It’s an old saying and oh so true but it doesn’t apply when it comes to the Addams Family.
Gomez, Morticia, Wednesday, Pugsley, Uncle Fester, Cousin It, Lurch, and ‘Thing’ are a deliciously devious family of misfits who’ll have you entertained for hours with their wicked antics. The Douglas Theatre Arts Group has allowed the Addams Family to set up home in the old Courthouse in Mowbray Street Port Douglas. It was called the Clink Theatre until the Addams Family bumped in and re-badged it (temporarily) as their hilarious haunted house. The Addams Family, A New Musical will open in April, but already there’s a real buzz about the place with this brand-new production.
The plot. (no pun intended)
Wednesday Addams, the ultimate Princess of Darkness, has grown up and fallen in love with a sweet, smart young man from a respectable family, a man her parents have never met. And if that wasn’t upsetting enough, Wednesday confides in her father and begs him not to tell her mother. Now, Gomez Addams must do something he’s never done before, keep a secret from his beloved wife, Morticia. Everything will change for the whole family on the fateful night they host a dinner for Wednesday’s “normal” boyfriend and his parents.
Brilliant local cast.
Once again, a talented group of locals is keeping this fabulous franchise alive (or dead) whichever way you want to look at it. Craig Eggins, who coincidentally runs an extermination business in the Shire, plays Gomez Addams, the patriarch of the weird and wonderful Addams family “This is a challenging role for me, there is so much dialogue and so many songs to learn but it’s all worth it because the Addams Family is loved by so many people across generations and Gomez himself is a great character to play,” said Craig. Once again Craig is spot on as Gomez and brings his brilliant comedy timing to the role. Playing the role of Uncle Fester is Paul Carey who admits he only saw the Addams Family movie recently for the first time but knew straight away which role he was born to play “Oh yes it was so clear cut after seeing the film, the role of Wednesday was perfect for me, but that part was already cast, so I had to settle for Fester” said tongue in cheek Paul. On reflection he is much better cast as Uncle Fester, a bald, hunched, and barrel-shaped man with dark, sunken eyes and often a deranged smile. No offence Paul.
Some Thing went wrong
I tried out for the role of ‘Thing’ a disembodied hand that performs various useful functions for the family. I was beaten to the punch by Dave Driver, who also plays the Addams servant Lurch. Let’s face it, he was handed the role of ‘Thing’ on a platter. In the Addams Family TV series, ‘Thing’ was usually played by Ted Cassidy, who also played Lurch, so there’s a precedence there and Dave does make a good fist of it, but I must say it was a real slap in the face not to get the role having done a brilliant audition. Check out my audition video to see why I should have got the role of ‘Thing’.
Very different
Director Michael Kerr is once again blessed with a large cast of incredibly talented local actors, and all goes well for the show’s performances at the Clink “We like doing something very different to the year before and the Addams Family fits that bill and once again we have a cast to die for (another pun) and the music is so different to what we’ve done before at the theatre” said Michael. Yet again, the world-renowned talent of Alteouise DeVaughn is getting the best out the singers in the show and the fabulous costumes are the creation of the Natusha Eggins.
The Addams Family, A New Musical runs from April 13th to April 30th.
Bookings www.clinktheatre.com.au
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