The Glen Eden Playhouse
This production is a co operation between St Peters College and Marist College.
This is a musical written in the 1980s (based on the 1960s TV series “The Adams family”.
Because of the production schedule there were two different teams of Actors, Actresses, singers, dancers, and understudies. That way the different teams (Broadway and West End)were not on every night ,and the students in the production would not be so tired.
There was a large live orchestra…. performing to a high standard. Drums ,precussion, guitar, bass, two keyboards, violin,trombone,trumpet,three saxophones,three clarinets,and flute. I am very impressed with the high standard of musicianship ,and how they workin with the singers.Their reading of the charts is very polished and professional.
The play is about two young people falling in love Wednesday Adams(Chaska Guffens) and Lucas Beinecke(Felix McDonald-Shaw). They want to get married As I follow Strong Successful Males U tube channel and knowing that he does not approve of marriage before 28 and what he would say ….well it added an extra layer of humor.
Of course their families have to be involved too ….The Parents of Lucas Mal and Alice Beinecke (Adam Lobo and Evie McMahon).Wednesdays parents Gomez and Morticia Addams (Mario Vigorelli and Tahlia Rehm) her brother Pugsley(Elijah Shed),Uncle Fester(Charlie Neal)Grandma(Esther Thompson)and Lurch the Butler(Jonathon Luxford).
There is also the ancestors of the Addams family…the dance troupe ,the lead Ancestors….and Lurch’s junior troupe. My Granddaughter Edith is part of the lead ancestors.
The cast tell the story brilliantly, and take the audience along with them like entering into a secret world. Lucas takes his parents to visit the Addams family to get all four parents approval for his marriage to Wednesday. The jokes are still very relevent….Mal and Alice said“Because of the New York rents they cannot afford furniture”.Mal called the Addams “Crazy Leftists” (even more relevent in the Trump era.)
Of course nothing runs smoothly…. not for the young people or both sets of parents. A lot of the humor is about the difficulty of older couples maintaining the spark of love (that they have at the beginning)… I found this very funny. There is Pugleys worry about losing a sister ,and Grandmas wise advice about finding his own way in life and how people in our lives can move on.
The Ancestors are made up to each represent a famous dead person.There is a Roman Emperor and a French Queen but the most obvious was Freddy Mercury.
As this is a romantic comedy everything works out in the end.. I appreciate all the work put in by everyone in the cast both front stage and backto make this production the polished professional success it is.
GT
