Review: THE ADDAMS FAMILY at Heindle Center For The Performing Arts

It’s quoted to be family first and family last and family by and by on the national tour of The Addams Family, and audience members at the Heindl Center for the Performing Arts in Senatobia, Mississippi got a front row seat to a little bit of family drama on Monday, February 3rd, where that vow was put to the test!

I ventured out of Jackson this week to catch the production at their Senatobia stop since the Jackson stop was cancelled due to toxic mold in our theatre (Don’t worry, folks, they’re dealing with it! Just some rotten timing for this season!), and boy, am I glad I did! Though, personally, I think that at least some members of the Addams crew would’ve really vibed with that - yeah, I’m looking at you, Grandma! 

Through special arrangement with Theatrical Rights Worldwide, this production of The Addams Family is presented by Big League Productions, Inc. With a book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, and music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa, the plot utilizes characters created by Charles Addams. 

Gloriously, irreverently macabre, the story follows a teenaged Wednesday as she tries to juggle her budding romance and…well, her family. She sets off a truly chaotic, somewhat disastrous (depending on who you ask) chain of events when she enlists the help of her father in helping the “meet the parents” go smoothly. Soon, we’ve got a mother feeling betrayed, a brother feeling forgotten, potential future in-laws feeling horrified, and a grandma (maybe) absolutely just doing her own thing.  

Taking on the role of the princess of darkness, Wednesday, is Melody Munitz. With a “Pulled” that has me wishing for a new cast recording with her on it IMMEDIATELY, a more perfect Wednesday I can’t imagine. Her beau, Lucas Beineke, is played by David Eldridge, and he matches her toe to toe. Pugsley (Logan Clinger) treads the line of believability in the age portrayed exactly as it should be, and those screams in the torture chamber? Hilarious. Gomez, Rodrigo Aragón in the role, had absolutely impeccable comedic timing, while also tugging hard on the heart strings with “Happy/Sad”.  Morticia (Renee Kathleen Koher) was so believably dramatic that my investment in her distress over the whole situation, while maintaining the comedy, was next level. And do not even get me started on Chris Carsten as Uncle Fester. Having seen him in two much more serious roles, this was quite unexpected but I was dying by the end of “Fester’s Manifesto”. Rounding out the Addams clan (possibly), Shereen Hickman as Grandma was just EVERYTHING. Comedy gold! Lucas’s parents Malcolm and Alice, John Adkison and Sarah Mackenzie Baron respectively, were just brilliant as well. Stealing the show most unexpectedly, however, was Jackson Barnes as Lurch! His charades interpretation of his life, death, and zombifying had me cackling. 

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