Last night, family and friends of the Foundation were welcomed to enjoy the opening performance of Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice’s award winning musical, ‘The Addams Family’. Based on the characters created by Charles Addam’s for the extremely popular 1991 film  ‘The Addams Family’, the musical depicts the hilarious events of the eccentric and macabre family, consisting of Morticia, Gomez, Wednesday, Pugsley, Fester and Lurch.

Preparations for the show have been underway for several months, with the announcement of the musical in July 2022. Detailed planning then began over the summer holidays, with auditions being held in the first few weeks of the Autumn term. Unsurprisingly, due to the popularity of the film and the recent revival of the characters in Netflix’s hit show ‘Wednesday’, auditions were extremely competitive, with lots of students desperate for a chance to play the notorious ‘Morticia Addams’ and unique ‘Wednesday Addams’. Those who narrowly missed out on a chance of being cast on stage, as always, had the opportunity to be a part of the production team, helping their peers by ‘manning the ropes’ backstage. 

Rehearsals commenced a few weeks later, and this is where the real work began. Director of Drama Mr. Besford and the students worked together, shaping the intricacies of the musical with all the different teams working concurrently to guarantee a wonderful performance. The positioning of the actors on stage, the script, music, lighting, curtains… It was no mean feat! Rehearsals were extremely beneficial for all cast and crew, with lots of opportunities to collaborate with peers outside of academic endeavours, to learn under the guidance of Mr. Besford and of course, for fun. This process allowed students to grow accustomed to receiving feedback and adapting their performances, and of course working in a team, skills certainly useful for the future.

As the minutes counted down to the 7pm showtime and the audience streamed into the QE Hall at QEGS, the energy levels soared. The performers and production team thrived under the pressure and put on a wonderful performance to loud applause from a lively audience –  a true testament to all the hard work cast and crew have put in over the past 6 months.

Thank you to Molly Limpets Costume Hire who provided a wonderful array of costumes for the show. 

Mr S Besford,

Director of Drama