‘The Addams Family: a New Musical’ @ The Hopeful Theatre Project
Photos by Delaney Rain Photography
—Hannah Kneen
At Mainstage 222 (Mainstage Irving-Las Colinas’ downtown Irving venue), The Hopeful Theatre Project has a fun show—and a fundraiser—put together. The Addams Family: a New Musical continues Hopeful’s mission to benefit a different community charity organization with each show the company puts on. For this production, 75% of ticket proceeds will go Anthem Strong Families, a group that provides tools for families “to create healthy, nurturing and vibrant relationships and live self-sufficient, sustainable lives. Anthem Strong Families offers an array of programs for families in search of workforce readiness, family wellness and parenting.”
This is very much the season for this family-centric Broadway musical. I think this is the third time I’ve seen a production of The Addams Family in the last couple of months—and the jokes are sounding more and more familiar. However, this strange, spooky-ooky family never stops being entertaining, and the Hopeful Theatre Project has done a good job with their production, directed by Jessica Holt with musical direction by Kelly Schaaf.
The show opens with Lurch (Jacob Fisher) and Thing leading the audience in the iconic *snap snap* of the Addams Family theme song. The stage is small and close to the audience, so nothing particularly grand can happen when the music starts with the sweeping sound of a huge Broadway show opening. Instead, we get the cleverly amusing dissonance of Lurch moving Thing’s podium very slowly offstage as the music swells.
We are soon introduced to the Addams family and the great Problem of the play. Not-so-little-anymore Wednesday Addams (Sofi Warren) is getting engaged to one Lucas Beineke (Karl Martin), and the two young lovers want their families to meet for dinner. Wednesday has put father Gomez (Kyle Holt) into the unenviable position of keeping her engagement secret from mother Morticia (Danielle Miller). Everyone’s relationships are put at risk during a perilous evening when the eminently normal (for a given definition of normal) Beineke clan collides with the macabre and eccentric Addams family. One thing is for certain—secrets will out, and no one is safe when faced with “Full Disclosure.”
This cast worked well together. Each of the three couples played off each other nicely. Danielle Miller’s Morticia was all grace and regal composure but never fell behind her husband’s energy. Kyle Holt’s Gomez had a fabulous voice that made “Happy Sad” and “Live Before we Die” even more touching than they already are. He also had a great attitude about minor mishaps onstage. No matter what went wrong he didn’t falter.
Sofi Warren’s Wednesday and Jacob Fisher’s Lurch were more expressive than I usually expect from their characters, which had benefits and drawbacks. For example, Lurch had quite a few funny moments throughout the play (his incomprehensible but clearly very dramatic introduction to the Beinekes comes to mind) but as a result of all his self-expression, Lurch’s moment at the end of the show (often a delightful surprise) had less impact.
Still, there are so many moments in this show that shine. For example, it’s a joy to watch Alice Beineke (Kristina Bain) let loose at the end of Act One, and almost as much fun to watch Mal Beineke (Joshua Sherman) just lose it—and Sherman did that very well. He was actually one of my favorites of this production. Both he and Nathan Rubens as Uncle Fester stood out to me as having just the right mix of genuine and eccentric to bring their characters to life.
As far as tech goes, Jessica Holt’s costume designs and Sarah Phillips’s makeup designs were my favorite. Morticia in particular looked sharp enough to cut, and the addition of a tiny Cousin It (Mila Nelson, who doubled as Death) was a nice touch and earned some cuteness points. There is a particularly horrible (and I mean that in the best way) Moon costume that gives Fester a dance partner in “The Moon and Me.” It’s awful and I love it.
This show really does have a bit of everything: bitter and sweet, morbid and wholesome, happy and sad. You can’t go wrong with The Addams Family—especially when it's playing in support of a good cause and an ever-better community.
WHEN: Nov. 3–12, 2023
WHERE: 222 E. Irving Boulevard, Irving TX
