As part of its UK premiere, the new touring stage adaptation of The Addams Family stops in Bradford where LEO OWEN caught the show

THE famous four-note theme tune resounds as a spotlight focuses on a seemingly disembodied hand. Setting the tone for the show, the audience are already clicking along before there's even any character presence on stage.

Deigo Pitarch’s design pays homage to the original 60s’ TV show, initially dominated by a spookily-lit gate adorned with a giant “A” and the outline of a dilapidated mansion on either side. Andrew Lippa’s music and lyrics continue to aptly introduce the titular family with opening track "When You're An Addams". The song sees dead Addams’ relatives - including a ballet dancer, jester, matador and geisha all in sumptuous period dress - woken from the family vault by Fester (an unrecognisable Les Dennis). He has enlisted them to help Wednesday (Carrie Hope Fletcher) secure her family’s blessing as she is secretly engaged to real American jock Lucas (Oliver Ormson).

As a plot premise forbidden love is hardly original but everything else about Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice’s script is quirky and entertaining with puns-a-plenty. From early complaints of being "foiled again" while mock sword fighting to Gomez’s (Cameron Blakely) gripe Wednesday is growing up too fast and will "be Thursday soon", every opportunity is taken for a sneaky laugh. The show is full of graveyard humour ("Just around the corner - cor-on-er…") and playful subversions of the expected, including Morticia’s (Samantha Womack) longing to visit the sewers of Paris and Pugsley’s (Grant McIntyre) fear Wednesday will no longer torture him. Lucas' prissy mum, Alice (Charlotte Page) comically rhymes everything and Fester occasionally rather cheekily breaks the fourth wall.

Director Matthew White uses his cast and Pitarch’s set to full comedic effect with carefully-timed entrances from Lurch (Dickon Gough), the Addams’ monosyllabic butler; an exaggerated spooky echo added every time Morticia suggests playing "The Game"; slapstick slo-mo action during the storm and Addams’ ancestors peering through previously still picture frames.

From the opening song to the big finale "Move Towards the Darkness", Lippa showcases an impressive number of distinct and infectiously hummable songs, rounding off with some beautiful harmonies like a family-friendly Spielberg film. There’s Gomez’s reprise “Trapped” as he’s caught between his daughter’s disclosure and his wife; big show tune “Pulled", belted out by an ever-strong Fletcher; clever cross-cutting between the two families in "One Normal Night"; Fester’s bittersweet interlude "But Love" and the showcasing of Page’s operatics in "Secrets". From the whole ensemble to a passionate tango, songs are accompanied by seamlessly choreographed dance routines and topical but witty lyrics creep in: "Was NATO right for Donald Trump... Were you folks right for the cheap seats?"

From cartoons to TV series, films and now the stage, The Addams Family have travelled a long way but over the years each adaptor has remained faithful to Charles Addams’ original concept, managing to maintain and grow their fan base. Although no longer the world’s only Goth family, their inverted outlooks remain just as kooky and the dynamics of their family unit still strangely resonates. Like an old friend, The Addams Family is comfortingly familiar but still has some surprises up its sleeve. Virtually faultless, it deserved the standing ovation so many sloppier productions seem to unfathomably get.

The Addams Family shows in Bradford July 4-8 before continuing its UK tour: https://www.theaddamsfamily.co.uk/tour/