Samantha Womack, Les Dennis and Carrie Hope Fletcher will star as Morticia, Fester and Wednesday Addams in the UK & Irish premiere of THE ADDAMS FAMILY, a musical comedy, with book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, and music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa, based on the characters created by Charles Addams. Further casting is to be announced.
The UK & Ireland Tour will open at the Festival Theatre, Edinburgh on 20 April 2017, with a national press night at the New Wimbledon Theatre on Tuesday 16 May. New tour dates have been added (please see schedule below).
Samantha Womack will take on the role of Morticia Addams fresh from leaving BBC1’s EastEnders after nearly a decade as Ronnie Mitchell. Samantha has also played Tanya Dawson for three series of the hit comedy Mount Pleasant (Sky1) and, on film she will be reprising her role next summer as Michelle Unwin in Kingsman: The Golden Circle. Her stage credits include Nellie Forbush in the Lincoln Center Theater's Tony Award-winning production of South Pacific (Barbican Theatre & UK Tour), Michael Grandage's West End production of Guys & Dollsopposite Patrick Swayze (Piccadilly Theatre) and Peter Hall's production of Pinter's Betrayal(Theatre Royal Bath).
Les Dennis spent the last three years playing burglar-turned-Romeo, Michael Rodwell, in ITV’s Coronation Street. Immediately prior to starring in THE ADDAMS FAMILY, he will appear at the Menier Chocolate Factory in the musical She Loves Me. Les’s other stage credits include the musicals Me & My Girl, Chicago, Monty Python’s Spamalot and Hairspray. He took a hit one-man play Jigsy, to the Edinburgh Fringe and, in 2016, produced and starred in the sell-out 40thanniversary production of Alan Bleasdale’s Down the Dock Road at the Royal Court Liverpool.
Carrie Hope Fletcher’s recent theatre credits include Eponine in Les Misérables (London and Dubai), Truly Scrumptious in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (UK & Ireland Tour), Beth in Jeff Wayne’s Arena Tour War of the Worlds, and Wind in the Willows (Regent‘s Park Open Air Theatre). In 2015, Carrie released her first book, All I Know Now: Wonderings and Reflections on Growing Up Gracefully, and her second book, On the Other Side, was released in July 2016.
Wednesday Addams, the ultimate princess of darkness, has grown up and has a shocking secret that only Gomez knows; she’s fallen in love with a sweet, smart young man from a respectable family! Now, Gomez Addams must do something he’s never done before — keep a secret from his beloved wife, Morticia. Everything will change for the whole family on the fateful night they host a dinner for Wednesday’s “normal” boyfriend and his parents. All the usual clan are present - Uncle Fester, Lurch, Pugsley et al.
Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice co-wrote the book for the multi award-winning Jersey Boys. Marshall wrote or co-wrote the film screenplays for Sleeper, Annie Hall, Manhattan, Manhattan Murder Mystery, For the Boys and Intersection, and was head writer for The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Rick’s play, Peter and the Starcatcher, received nine nominations and won five 2012 Tony Awards. Andrew Lippa wrote the music and lyrics for the Broadway musical, Big Fish, the music for the Broadway production of Aaron Sorkin’s play The Farnsworth Invention and the book, music and lyrics for the Drama Desk award-winning musical The Wild Party. He wrote the song called ‘Evil Like Me’, which was sung by Dove Cameron and Kristin Chenoweth in the 2015 Disney film Descendants.
The UK & Ireland Tour will be directed by Matthew White, who is currently directing She Loves Me at the Menier Chocolate Factory, where he also directed Candide, Sweet Charity (and West End) and Little Shop of Horrors (and West End). Other recent directing credits include the UK Tour of The Producers and the UK Tour and West End run of Top Hat. Choreography will be by Alistair David, who directed and choreographed Robbie Williams’s worldwide concert tour Swings Both Ways, and whose recent theatre credits include Two Noble Kinsmen (Royal Shakespeare Company), Show Boat (Sheffield Crucible Theatre and New London Theatre) and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre). The production will be designed by Diego Pitarch, with musical supervision by Richard Beadle, lighting design by Ben Cracknell and musical direction by Andrew Hilton.
THE ADDAMS FAMILY UK & Ireland Tour is produced by United Theatrical, Aria Entertainment and Music & Lyrics Limited, in association with the Festival Theatre Edinburgh, and is presented through special arrangement with Theatrical Rights Worldwide.
20-29 April 2017 Festival Theatre, Edinburgh
9-13 May 2017
16-20 May 2017 New Wimbledon Theatre
23-27 May 2017
30 May – 3 June 2017 Cliffs Pavilion, Southend
6-10 June 2017 Birmingham Hippodrome
13-17 June 2017 Theatre Royal, Bath
20-24 June 2017
27 June – 1 July 2017 Nottingham Theatre Royal on sale
4-8 July 2017
18 – 29 July 2017
1-12 August 2017 Cardiff, Wales Millennium Centre
15-26 August 2017 Bord Gais Energy Theatre, Dublin
29 August – 9 September 2017 The Lowry, Salford
12-16 September 2017 Lyceum Theatre, Sheffield
19-23 September 2017 Bristol Hippodrome
26-30 September 2017 New Victoria Theatre, Woking
10-14 October 2017 Glasgow King’s Theatre
17-21 October 2017 Wolverhampton Grand
24-28 October 2017 Milton Keynes Theatre
31 October – 4 November 2017 Orchard Theatre, Dartford on sale 24 November
Further tour dates to be announced.
