Singapore is playing host to one of the kookiest families out there. Radio Heatwave had the chance to pay a visit to the family that was residing at The MES Theatre last week.

The Addams Family consists of Gomez, Morticia, Wednesday, Pugsley and Grandmama Addams, along with their half-dead butler, a disembodied hand named Thing, and their ghostly ancestors.

The media call included a preview of the musical number “Waiting”, performed by the mother of Wednesday’s love interest.The two-hour long musical was an original story written by the writers of the multi-award winning hit musical ‘Jersey Boys’. The music and lyrics, which were composed by Tony Award nominee Andrew Lippa, had more of a pop sound to it unlike any other musical out there. This time, the characters created by Charles Addams were going through a family crisis: Wednesday Addams, played by Carrie Hope Fletcher,  wants to get married to Lucas Beineke, played by the dashing Oliver Ormson. This puts her whole family into a frenzy, because Lucas Beineke isn’t like anyone in their family - he’s from Ohio. Also, Wednesday is known for her love for all things gory and ominous; and not romantic love.We spoke briefly to Oliver Ormson, who was effortlessly charming with the way he brought himself around. He was one of the more prominent guests on Carrie’s vlogs, ‘Watch Me Wednesday’ – a segment she does to promote the show. These vlogs and other forms of marketing through the new media were the new ways they were trying to promote the musical. That was the reason why throughout the performance, you were allowed to snap pictures and take videos (without flash of course).

In the musical you’ll see how her family deals with their own personal problems: Wednesday and Lucas realising that they might not actually be a perfect fit for each other, Gomez having to choose between being loyal to his wife or to his daughter, and Pugsley dealing with the fact that Wednesday getting married might just mean the end to him torturing her, (much to his dismay!).

The set itself was absolutely beautiful and Rebecca Thornhill, who plays Morticia Addams confirmed that the set was actually made whole in Singapore just for the three-week long performance. The Singaporean set had actual stairs behind the windows they were dancing in and out of, unlike the English version, which just had a ladder. From the lights, to the fog  and pyrotechnics – audience members were left glued to the proscenium stage.

The characters were interactive with the crowd in certain parts, our favourites being when Fester Addams made a joke about the top row audience members buying the cheapest seats in the house, to which everyone laughed. The whole theatre was packed with people, some whom were not even fans of the franchise from the start. That was what made this musical special – you could walk into the theatre not knowing anything about the characters and leave with a burning love for the odd family.The play also played it’s part in cancelling out gender roles. You can see that throughout the musical, Wednesday was very much encouraged to carry a bow and arrow and be the strong-headed one in her and Lucas’ relationship. Her family was extremely encouraging of her going hunting and doing what would usually be classified as masculine. It didn’t come as a surprise when her brother was throwing explosives around the set. The explosions - that were fake of course - were extremely impressive, and it came up to a close second to the fire explosions from Grease Lightning in Grease The Musical.

As a whole, the musical, the characters and set put into three words would be: peculiar, hilarious and loud. But I guess that’s just how it is: When you’re an Addams, you do what Addams always do.

A big thanks to VizPro Entertainment for this opportunity to catch The Addams Family Musical!

Written by: Azrinnizzah Azhar

Edited by: Foo Wee San