Caricature Productions' The Addams Family had much potential; considering it was adapted from the infamous cartoon series of an unconventional American family with their quintessential idiosyncrasies and uncommon eccentricities. The fact that it was a musical could have made it even better.
Stagnant story
However, the play started off sourly and proved a major disappointment for fans of this highly successful series that has been adapted into multiple media since its inception by Charles Addams. An empty Museum Theatre on a Sunday evening began the story much before the real one. A few minutes into the play and this was the scene: screechy and shrilly voices coupled with wannabe incomprehensible accents, long winding dialogues and a stagnant story line that was not promising to go anywhere either.
Entries from the back door and close interaction with the audience are usually fruitful and fascinating as well, but in this one, it was one more instance of the actors trying too hard to impress. Sometimes, “acting” is meant to be taken lightly but acting to act can lead to a disaster.
Failing to entertain
Half way through the play, you are wondering why it was even called a musical! Those interludes could have provided some respite. In the end, one could only feel sorry for the kids in the audience who constantly kept tugging at their parents, perhaps trying their best to find some entertainment.
It is quite rare that a play goes so awry. Pretty much all the important areas — music, lighting, direction, acting were amateurish and gawky. Some of the actors provided a wee bit of relief but that was easily subsumed in the failure of the play to entertain. It is indeed ironical that that's precisely what the group set out to do. While the tag line read — ‘There'll be thunder! Snarls! Growls! And owls swooshing around! Come get bewitched and torturrred!' — only the last word is apt for what the play churned out.
They say something good comes out of everything. Apart from taking this one as a learning experience, it came as a breather to know that a part of the collections were donated to a non-profit Medical Trust.
Niharika is a III Year, BA Literature student at Stella Maris College.
