by Cari Lynn Pace *
I was a teenager when two “monster comedy” shows aired on network TV in 30-minute black and white episodes from 1964 to 1966 (and in reruns ever since.) The Munsters and The Addams Family delighted us with their weird antics and bizarre proclivities which contrasted with and confused the outside world. I loved it all!
The Munsters show never made it much further than the small screen, but for single feature film in 1966 featuring most of its TV cast. In contrast, The Addams Family, based on cartoons by Charles Addams for The New Yorker magazine, has become a multi-generational success, spawning an outrageous stage musical, multiple films with its endearing characters, costumes, and a theme song featuring those familiar finger snaps. 142 Throckmorton brings The Addams Family Musical to their huge stage to entertain with vitality and hilarity through Nov. 15.
Co-directors and choreographers Gina Chapman and Mariya Shpungina are young yet mightily skilled to have whipped two dozen youthful actors into this impressive and energetic show. All are dedicated high school age drama students, with only one Throckmorton alumni (Morgan Hunt) popping back to fill a role. These solid actors and singers revel in the spotlight, and you are likely to see them again in the future on screens or stages.
This gothic set by Jean-Paul LaRosee and Steve Coleman overflows with powerful voices and there are fantastic costumes by Amy Dunn. Musical Director Daniel Savio led an energetic six-piece band, which unfortunately sometimes overwhelmed the singers and at other times seemed a bit off-key.
Major roles are double cast, with opening night leads doing a superb job. There’s so much talent in this production company it is certain that the alternate leads are also top-notch.
The plot is perfectly set up for humor. Daughter Wednesday Addams (Naomi Mai) is a Goth teen with a sadistic streak. She meets Lucas Beineke (Alex James), a clean-cut boy, while shooting birds in the public park with her crossbow. Hopelessly in love, Lucas wants to meet her family and ask permission for them to marry. Wednesday implores her father Gomez (Parker Hall) and mother Morticia (Riley Cover) to “act normal” and the fun begins. Hall and Cover are hilarious in their roles, with voices that fill the house, and Mai is a solid match with them.
Lucas brings his parents Alice and Mal (Maya Donalds and Morgan Hunt) to the kooky Addams mansion. They are greeted by the butler Lurch (terrific casting in George Bessolo) and meet goofy Uncle Fester (James Chui) and Wednesday’s young brother Pugsley (Elise Allen).
Pugsley is annoyed that his sister has changed her regular appearance to become like the outsiders. He fears she will leave home and he’ll lose the torture regimen she regularly gives him. He plots to thwart her plans for love and steals a drug from Grandma Addams (Saddie Donalds) as a solution.
Of course, it doesn’t work as planned and Lucas’s mother (Maya Donalds) accidentally get dosed. She gives a spotlight scene that brings down the house.
The Addams Family Musical is a show filled with laughter and fine voices. Highlights include a scene where we meet the Addams Ancestors who gather at the graveyard to celebrate their spooky legacy. In dusty costumes from centuries past, we meet : Abby Bailey, Gigi Cannelora, Natalie Castaneda-Richards, Sophia Durrani, Emily Engstrom, Addison James, Max Levit, Siena Polfliet, Olympia Reeder, Charlotte Roselin, Harper Senn, Abigail Sutton, Lily Taylor, and Zoe Zuckerman. They arise from the dead to dance, sing and mug with gleeful abandon.
From graveyard to banquet table, The Addams Family Musical is a ghoulish and glorious delight.
Playing through November 15, 2026 at the Throckmorton Theatre, 142 Throckmorton Ave., Mill Valley.
Click HERE for more information and tickets.
Photos by Michael Pringle
Cari Lynn Pace is a long-time Bay Area theatre critic whose reviews were regularly featured in the Marinscope Community Newspapers and a member of the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle and Marquee Theater Journalists Association..
