Review by Emily Lawrence, Front Row Reviewers
Timpanogos Valley Theater (TVT) ushers you into the spooky season in Heber City with its delightful production of The Addams Family, a high energy musical with thematic appeal to all ages. Co-directed by Robin Laine and David Thorpe, who also plays adoring husband and doting father Gomez, The Addams Family originates from a book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice and music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa. Audiences are invited to witness a secret teenage love affair coming to light at a dinner party between two starkly contrasting families. What happens when a husband keeps a secret from his wife, when a brother feels left behind as his sister grows up, and when craziness encounters conformity? Chaos. Chaos, joy, and transformation.
Due to the abundance of talent and passion in its community, this production is double cast. If you attend The Addams Family on a night when Creepy Cast performs, you’ll be treated to Jessica Wall’s interpretation of Morticia, the calm, self-assured matriarch who anchors her family with level-headed guidance and maturity. Wall’s small stature is an ironic contrast to how large her presence is onstage, and she exhibits matriarch main-character energy with obvious poise. Kooky Cast’s Morticia, Rachel Allred, is just as impressionable in her own way, leaning into the sensual appeal of the character.
Christine Prows’ take on daughter Wednesday (in Creepy Cast) is firm and steady, and Megan Grass (Kooky Cast) speaks to the character’s passion and steely authenticity. Daniel Thorpe (Creepy Cast) and Lance Bennion (Kooky Cast) both play intriguing, endearing, and well-spoken Fester. Kort Fuller and Jenson Price portray Pugley, Wednesday’s brother. Their relationship is, well, unusual, but we are talking about the Addams family after all. You can’t help but cheer on Wednesday’s ardent but cautious boyfriend Luca (Garrett Scott, Sam Neil) as he tries to please his conservative parents but help them face and understand the unusual Addams family.
If you are fortunate enough to see both casts perform, you’ll encounter another layer of humor as you witness Ethan Munford, who plays Lurch in both casts, take his own sweet time as the family’s loyal butler. Contrast that with the surprisingly spry Grandmas of questionable origin, Alyssa Morgan (Creepy Cast) and Beth Knight (Kooky Cast), both dishing out well-projected witticisms in hilarious accents.
Unprepared for the utter strangeness that they’re about to encounter, the “normal” family invited to dine with the Addams provides contrasting stereotypes to upset everyone’s status quo, especially their own. Both Cevin Carr (Creepy Cast) and Nathan Moulton (Kooky Cast) play Mal, the grumpy, set-in-his-ways, secretly bored husband and father to Wednesday’s boyfriend Lucas, Mal has forgotten how to enjoy life. Speaking of transformation, Mal’s wife Alice (mother to Lucas) has an epic breakdown, or more accurately, a middle-aged awakening. One of the most striking scenes in the production is when Mal’s wife Alice (Kara Charlesworth in Creepy Cast and Jenn Iverson in Kooky Cast) accidentally drinks a truth-telling potion which calls forth her darker self, or shadow side, or exiled parts, etc. In “Waiting,” she metamorphoses from mild-mannered, people-pleasing housewife to a fully embodied woman able to tell her story like it is, express her feelings as they are, and captivate the room with her newly recovered vitality. Lurch is the only one, perhaps, who can find nothing to appreciate in this situation.
And then there’s Gomez, the patriarch Addams. No matter which actor, he spars with in any given scene, David Thorpe brings zeal and boundless zest for life (and Death) to the encounter. His smooth voice and energetic body language is reminiscent of Gene Kelly. This talented actor stars as Gomez in both casts, so you’ll enjoy his performance with double enjoyment.
Amongst all the stunning individual performances, truth be told, it’s the Ancestors that make or break this play. They are the foundation, the scene setters, the set piece movers, and the visual guides. Incredibly decked out in costumes through the ages by Camri Heugly (assisted by Kristen Hughes, Knight and Jolene Munford), and expertly guided to look ghoulish and yet lively by Hair and Makeup artist Becky Thorpe, the ancestors alone are worth your ticket.
Directors Laine and David Thorpe gave their vision to choreographer Christie Moulton, and she absolutely delivered and brought those visions to life. Her vast talent is readily apparent in the sheer variety of dance styles in this production. D. Moulton has Death tap dancing, the Moon en pointe, and vaudeville leading to burlesque, culminating in tango, with a little homage to Beyoncé. The cast is light on their feet, moving the story along with grace and agility.
In fact, the overall feel of TVT’s The Addams Family is one of joyful movement and transformative growth. In the stillness of self reflection, as in Fester’s “The Moon and Me,” we are encouraged to take action, just as Fester’s character arc ends in a translunar journey to be with his love, the Moon. This play expertly portrays, in a word, “both.” Torture and pleasure. Authenticity and empathy. The Addams Family celebrates the ability to hold two emotions at once, highlighted in Gomez’s honest admittance to his daughter Wednesday that he is both “Happy/Sad” about her growing up, and in his earlier dilemma of being torn between honoring a promise to his daughter and a covenant with his wife. It pays tribute to our past and the ancestors who shaped it, while in the same breath celebrating youth and the bravery of choosing your own path. From your cushioned seat, you’ll be surveying the depths of humanity even as you float along its melodic voices and graceful dance moves.
“When you face your nightmares, Then you’ll know what’s real”
Don’t miss it!
Timpanogos Valley Theater presents The Addams Family Musical. Book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice. Music and Lyrics by Andrew Lippa. Orchestrations by Larry Hochman.
Timpanogos Valley Theater, 90 N 100 W, Heber City, UT 84032
September 26-27, 29, October 1-4, 6, 9-11 7:00 PM
September 27, October 11 2:00 PM
Tickets $12-20
Contact: 435-654-2125
Facebook
0 Comments