Stage Review - The Addams Family, A New Musical (Jewel Box)
Stage Review - The Addams Family, A New Musical
Presented By: The Jewel Box Theatre - Poulsbo, WA
Show Run: February 2 - March 3, 2024
Date Reviewed: Saturday, February 10, 2024
Reviewed By: Greg Heilman
Musicals tend to work better in certain kinds of buildings. Typically, proscenium style theaters, or those with raised and pronounced stages, in buildings that are designed to bring the best acoustic quality to the fore, go hand in hand with these sorts of shows. Smaller, black box theaters don’t often handle musicals well, especially larger scale productions with significant casts. Stages get crowded with cast members, props get in the way, and the sound is often not as full as it could be. But one thing I’ve learned over the past few years is that when they’re done right, musicals in a non-traditional setting can work and work well. An example last year was Jekyll and Hyde at Western Washington Center for the Arts, directed by Kristi Ann Jacobson. Designed to fit the size of the venue, Jekyll and Hyde felt right, understood the theater’s limitations, and thrived. Well, you can add another to that list. The Jewel Box Theatre in Poulsbo, from a sheer size perspective, may have the smallest stage in Kitsap County. At the very least, it’s right there with WWCA in terms of space directors have to work with when presenting a show. The Jewel Box, though, has another challenge, and that is in its layout. It’s more or less a thrust, with seats on three sides of the stage. In this case a director and the creative team need to block and choreograph a show so that all of the seats, no matter which side of the stage they are on, hear the dialogue and music equally, see the actors’ expressions to glean the emotion from each scene, and otherwise take away an equal amount of enjoyment from the production as a whole. The Addams Family, A New Musical, onstage at The Jewel Box through March 3, despite all of the unique challenges and limitations that the space has, is indeed a winner. For the show’s director Gwen Adams, who does double-duty as musical director, this is an achievement, a high quality musical theatre production presented in a space where nothing of this magnitude in all honesty should work.
Being a small venue, presenting a show with a cast of 16 seems daunting, especially considering the addition of set pieces and props on stage. Gwen Adams has her hand in a lot of the aspects of The Addams Family, working with Bill Klorig on set design, in addition to her other roles as director and music director. The set itself is not largely complicated, settings depicted through the use of just a few on stage set pieces, sofas, a dining table, and the odd coffin, but mostly though a few changeable structures near the rear of the stage that can be turned depending on the location of a specific scene, and curtains as backdrops. During the Saturday performance, I found scene changes, some more than others, skewing to the lengthy side, and while I’ll be the first to call out slow scene changes when they impact the flow of the show, this is not the case here. It makes sense given the venue that changes might take a bit of time, but my experience was that none were long enough to stop the flow of this production. Keeping the set simple also allows Gwen to block the show so that everyone in the theatre gets equal access to the storytelling. It’s a purposeful thing, but it never feels gratuitous, rather the flow of the action seems to naturally move around in each direction. Additionally, Shelby Skinner’s choreography doesn’t feel crowded at all on this stage, and is very nicely designed. Overall, the design of this version of The Addams Family is well done, Dale Borer’s lighting subtle, Sharon Freiboth Greany’s costumes reminiscent of what I’d expect having grown up with the Addams Family, and Gwen’s music direction excellent.
On the subject of music, The Addams Family is replete with catchy songs, from composer Andrew Lippa. The Jewel Box production uses pre-recorded tracks, and where I’ve seen other small theaters not use them effectively, being either too loud, drowning out the actors, or sounding “tinny”, here the volume is right, and there’s no problem hearing the actors. That is a good thing, because this cast should be heard. I had the opportunity to see the Emerald cast (the show was produced with two casts, Emerald and Ruby), led by Jeffrey Basset at Gomez Addams and Alyssa Hersey as the family matriarch Morticia. Most of us are familiar with the family, through either the original series starring John Astin, or the movies with Raul Julia and Anjelica Huston, the parents with children Wednesday and Pugsley, butler Lurch, Uncle Fester, and others, including Granny, Cousin Itt, and Thing (the latter two not in the musical, though they may still make an appearance in this show. Jeffrey as Gomez is excellent. Perhaps his accent may waver in consistency at times, but all and all he possesses all of the traits that make a good Gomez. He’s funny, over the top romantic, nails all of the emotional range of the role, and he’s an excellent singer. Gomez sings the most in The Addams Family, A New Musical, so Jeffrey being up to the task is a necessity. But as funny as he is, and suave, and debonaire as Gomez, he’s at his best in the Act 2 song “Happy/Sad”, a tender song sung from father to daughter Wednesday. And speaking of Wednesday, Shelby Skinner shows here why she is one of the brightest young actors in the region. From the constant scowl on her face that is part and parcel of the character to a voice that could fill a venue three times the size of The Jewel Box, she is the real deal, not to mention her work as choreographer here. This is Wednesday’s show, the plot centering around Wednesday falling in love, of all things, with boy Lucas (Miles Borer, who is also good), and causing much consternation with the family over this happiness, especially with mother Morticia. Shelby and Miles work very well together, and he more than holds his own with her in “Crazier Than You”. And as far as Morticias go, Alyssa feels uniquely suited for this role. Morticia is largely the straight here to Gomez’ humorous flamboyance, and Alyssa’s attention to detail in movement, hand position, and overall mannerism is what sets her apart. She’s graceful, sweeping across the floor with Shelby’s choreography in “Tango de Amor” with Jeffrey’s Gomez, and she’s extremely fun in “Just Around the Corner”, all while maintaining the poise and posture of the role. It’s quite an impressive performance.
The supporting cast is just as good here, each a very capable actor and singer. Lucas’ parents, Alice and Mal, played by Charis Ifland and Brandon Miller, respectively, are the perfect counters to Morticia and Gomez, Brandon playing the more conservative father and Charis the more understanding mother. There’s a turn that Alice takes in the play that shows some of the range that it’s clear Charis has, and her voice is superb, so good it made me want to see more of her character singing in this show. Todd Parkington struggled a bit with the singing aspect of Uncle Fester’s character in the Saturday evening performance, but otherwise he nails Fester’s speaking voice and characteristics. Heather Werkheiser is also good as the odd and off the wall Granny. Then again, everyone in the Addams Family is a bit off the wall. Cooper Priest plays brother Pugsley, the one who takes the brunt of Wednesday’s pranks and torture. The two, Shelby and Cooper, work well together as siblings, her with plenty of teenage angst and him as the younger sibling and victim. Rounding out the “family” is Pete Simpson as butler Lurch, full of grunts and, well, Lurch-ness. Finally, there are the ancestors. They’re the ones charged with making sure that true love wins the day, despite the tradition of misery that is the currency of The Addams Family. Olivia Ingram, Danielle Priest (in for Holly Burns for this performance), Patrick Wright, Scott Corey, Heather Rose, Catherine Bennett, and Ellie Bosch do a fine job in support of the family and the plot, and also contribute greatly to the full harmonies produced by the ensemble.
The Addams Family, A New Musical is a real achievement. It takes an award winning musical, with a cast that seems like it should be too big for the space and makes it feel large but never crowded, has a cast that captures these familiar characters with humor and authenticity, and presents a show that hits all of its marks musically. Directed by Gwen Adams, there is not a more entertaining show onstage in Kitsap currently.
The Addams Family, A New Musical runs through March 3, onstage at The Jewel Box Theatre in Poulsbo. The current run is sold out, but to inquire about a waiting list, learn more about the show, or about the remainder of the season at The Jewel Box, visit https://www.jewelboxpoulsbo.org/.
