THE ADDAMS FAMILY

The Addams are Running Riot in Brno like a Black Hand

(…) Brno’s theatre folk have procured a new translation by the seasoned professional Zuzana Čtveráčková for their production which is more melodious than the one used in Prague and preserves more of the original background. For example, the Addams’ daughter remains Wednesday here rather than becoming “Pražská Středa”, because the mere substitution of a three-syllable word for a two-syllable one is bound to grate on the ears in the songs. In addition to situational humour, the wit also lies in the words, which is why Zuzana Čtveráčková has had to replace some of the typical American vocabulary with words that the Czech viewer will understand. Her task was made a little easier by the fact that American culture and English vocabulary resonate more with us now than they did ten or more years ago. After all, who even used to know that there was such a thing as Halloween…? A crucial role in the production team has also been played by the experienced dramaturg Miroslav Ondra, and I often like to emphasise just what a good thing it is that Brno City Theatre respects this profession and does not confine it merely to the creation of the printed programme or consider it unnecessary like many theatres in Prague do.

The Musical Horror Comedy about the Eccentric Addams Family Hits the Bullseye of the Tastes and Interests of the Audience

(…) The musical adaptation of this well-known material is the work of Broadway matadors Marshall Brickman (among other things a constant collaborator of Woody Allen) and Rick Elice who wrote the libretto. The music and lyrics were written by Andrew Lippa, who also wrote the songs for the musical Big Fish which had its Czech premiere at the Brno City Theatre this April. The musical The Addams Family was first seen by audiences in Chicago in 2009. (…) Brno City Theatre has preserved the atmosphere and the entire visual hallmark of the story, which takes place in New York, mostly in the gloomy Addams house, as well as in a nearby cemetery and Central Park, for which reason Christoph Weyers has designed the black decoration of an enormous house in which the eyes of the ever-present sculptures of devils and demons constantly glow red. The successful set design makes it possible to change the environment with rapid reconstructions and has the same beneficial effect on the vivid audience experience as the costumes by Andrea and Adela Kučerová, which are logically based on the iconic outfits of the horror family. The chorus of deathly white ghosts is imaginatively costumed. Stanislav Slovák’s direction endeavours to emphasise the entertaining dimensions of the piece above all, though there is no lack of more serious observations in this production in Brno – that light comes only after darkness, and that joy and happiness sometimes require a little suffering or a radical change. Slovák’s staging with a live orchestra keeps things moving and the three-hour production offers a funny, ironic and slightly horrific show with some great melodies. The music is extremely playful here and its notional frivolity goes hand in hand with the hyperbole of the story shaped by the director, which – as this is an established brand – is staged under the English title The Addams Family. (…) The leading role of Gomez Addams was played with bravura singing and dancing by Alan Novotný, who floods the stage with his Hispanic temperament. It is a successful and strong performance. Similarly, Svetlana Janotová as his wife Morticia relishes the precisely targeted and occasionally comic-book hyperbole of her character and also gives a flawless singing performance. The big little star of the show is Esther Mertová as Wednesday, who plays this sad love-struck girl with precise dramatic control as a troubled but self-confident adolescent girl and gives an absolutely perfect singing performance. Lenka Janíková shone with a masterful performance in the role of Alice, and the same can also be said of Robert Jícha as her husband Mal. And the mumbling tones coming from Ladislav Kolář’s Lurch are the unadulterated icing on this musical cake. An entertaining show has been created here that, despite the morbid subject matter, presents a musical of entirely life-sized dimensions…

The Addams Family is a Comic Horror Story

Brno City Theatre lives up to its reputation as a great musical workshop. On Saturday 28 October, it premiered the musical horror comedy about the eccentric Addams Family on its Music Stage. A spectacle for all generations – a great set, imaginative costumes, captivating music, and superb acting and singing performances. Under the English title The Addams Family they speak and sing in Czech, but we find ourselves in New York sometime in the last century.

(…) The performance stands on the dialogues of three couples. At the second premiere which I attended Jiří Daniel and Andrea Zelová played Gomez and Morticia Addams. They are magical. They introduce you to the comedy immediately, and you get the feeling you are watching a comic book come to life. The play also has its more serious moments, tension and twists. They both handle the spoken word and singing perfectly. Daniel is charming and classy, and Zelová also sings beautifully and dazzles with her feminine charm and movement. The same is undoubtedly true of their alternates Adam Kaňák, Alan Novotný, Svetlana Janotová and Tereza Navrátilová. The next couple are Mal and Alice Beineke, the parents of Lucas, whose acting partner is Wednesday Addams. The second premiere belonged to Marek Kolář (alternating with Robert Jícha) and Lucie Bergerová (Lenka Janíková) and Šimon Fikar (Adam or Josef Gazdík) with Klára Ondrůšková, who alternates with Esther Mertová. They, too, will delight the audience with songs full of passion and scenes of comedy. In the end, everything revolves around the youngest couple Wednesday and Lucas, and everything turns out well just like it should in an American musical. “Be like the Addams and be yourself!” everyone sings at the end.

The black-clad butler Lurch, actually a zombie with a heavily disguised face with darkly emphasised eyes (like all Addams ancestors!), is an appealing comedy character. He walks on high clogs, his height is accentuated by an artificial thatch of hair, and instead of speaking he grunts beautifully to the laughter of the audience, though the authors do let him sing a beautiful song. The role is shared by first-class actors and singers Igor Ondříček and Ladislav Kolář.

Colour is added to the Addams family by the ever-opinionated grandmother, the romantically inclined Uncle Fester and the boy Pugsley, Wednesday’s brother. The popular actresses Marta Matějová and Evelína Studénková alternate in these role (they are still far from being grandmothers, but they have aged beautifully under the hands of the make-up artists), along with Oldřich Smysl and Tomáš Sagher and Matyáš Mičulka with Kryštof Helbich or Petr Horký. Mičulka, who I saw, takes on his role as a high-spirited boy with enthusiasm and pleasing passion. His voice is resounding and clear, and is still a long way from breaking.

Christoph Weyers, who has become well established here, has used moving models of the architecture of an old American city for the fast-changing scenes, and evidently had a good understanding with director Stanislav Slovák and choreographer Martin Pack. Projections by Petr Hloušek put the finishing touches to the stage. The orchestra plays under the baton of the experienced Ema Javorová or František Šterbák, both of whom also participated in the preparation of the choral scenes and the musical staging in general. The new translation, which preserves a lot of funny lines, is the work of Zuzana Čtveráčková.

The Addams Family in Brno

(…) The musical story of the Addams Family, translated by Zuzana Čtveráčková and directed by Stanislav Slovák, was premiered at Brno City Theatre on 28 October 2023. The dramaturg was Miroslav Ondra. The dark gothic sets were designed by Christoph Weyers and the costumes by Andrea and Adéla Kučerová. The viewer got to see English Gothic in all its beauty, in which the dark story unfolded in wonderful hyperbole.

The performances were funny and humorous, which is not always the case in musicals, undoubtedly due in no small part to translator Zuzana Čtveráčková and director Stanislav Slovák. Excellent singing and the natural movement of the protagonists on the stage go without saying with the actors at Brno City Theatre. The musical genre is a demanding one for actors and all its various components must fit together naturally. As Ivo Osolsobě, an expert in musical theatre who is unfortunately no longer with us, once said, in a musical, when dialogue is not enough, it must be sung, and when even that is not enough, it must be expressed through movement to bring everything back to the dialogue once again. This is just what was achieved by the actors under the direction of Stanislav Slovák. The Addams Family was a textbook musical in this respect.

The musical staging by František Šterbák and Ema Javorová was of high quality, as has become customary at this theatre. Today, the sound is all carried by microports, and the sound direction responded sensitively to the music and the performers’ voices. It is rare to hear such balanced acoustic parameters as they produce at this theatre. (…) Stanislav Slovák, who was originally an actor and who also graduated in directing from the Theatre Faculty at the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts (JAMU), took advantage of his many years of acting experience and his knowledge of audience reactions to take a creative approach to the story. Slovak knows how to do rhythm. He knows when to “put his foot to the floor” and when to “hit the brake”, and he works sensitively with tempo and rhythm. The result is a rewarding spectacle for the audience.

The musical The Addams Family in Brno was a great success. And the audience showed it the appreciation it deserved when the curtain came down.

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