Review: THE ADDAMS FAMILY at Broadway Palm

I expected The Addams Family, now playing at Broadway Palm, to be a dark comedy. And it was. What I didn’t expect was an evening of love stories. Of course, given it was the Addams family after all, the love stores were deliciously off-kilter.

The show gave us the gamut in love: young lovers, older lovers rediscovering their young love, long married lovers rekindling their relationship, and older characters who hadn’t yet given up on love.

Each character had at least one opportunity to shine, and boy, did they. The voices are uniformly good and the timing excellent.

Jordan Bunshaft as Uncle Fester was a comic gem acting as sort of an emcee for an outrageous dinner party to introduce the Addams clan to the parents of their daughter’s love interest. Daughter Wednesday was played with over-the-top glee by Lindsay Hoffpauir.

Matthew Harper Stevenson as her buttoned-up boyfriend Lucas Beineke and his equally uptight parents Lauren Foutch and Steffen Whorton all loosened up eventually, particularly Foutch who transformed from a rhyme spouting matron to a tigress before our eyes. Her body language was highly entertaining.

Caleb Aguilar as Gomez and Liv Pelton as Morticia were fun to watch as they replicated their TV counterparts. I was tickled to see him kissing his way up her arm, just as I remember. I also enjoyed her mincing glide across the stage.

Even Randy Kessenich as the incoherent Lurch got a moment. Who knew there was a melodious bass singing voice under there?

Kudos to Make-up Designer Theresa Walker Smith, Wig Designer Brandon T. Miller, and Costume Designer John P. White. The visuals added a lot to the overall effect of the show.  I loved the all-white appearance of the Addams dead ancestors in contrast to the all-black costumes of the living.

If you enjoy macabre humor, this is definitely the show for you. The production runs through May 25. For tickets, call 239.278.4422.

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