Sitting in the Edwardian lavish of the New Wimbledon Theatre’s terrace bar on a gloomy, overcast day seems somehow strangely fitting for purpose. The rain comes in fits and starts; one couldn’t exactly write it off as depressing, but there’s a solemn greyness to proceedings for sure, one that marries well with the fake cobwebs and other gothic curio that have popped up to celebrate the new theatrical arrival in town.

We’re here to welcome a new family to British theatredom, except they’re not exactly unknowns. The ghoulish, darkly comic hijinks of ‘The Addams Family’ have been entertaining audiences across the world as early as Charles Addams’ (note the namesake) sketches of the dysfunctional clan first appeared in the New Yorker as early as the 1930s. A popular TV adaptation, headed up by John Astin and Carolyn Jones, arrived in the mid 60s, whilst another triple decade jump saw Anjelica Houston and Raúl Juliá front the 90s’ Hollywood treatment of the now-growing Addams brand. The success of those features spawned a whole host of spin-offs, including books, comics and both live-action and animated television successors.

In a way then, it almost begs the question as to why they’ve has taken so long to grace the stage. Debuting across the pond in 2009 to a book by Marshall Brickman and score by Andrew Lippa and headlined by musical heavyweights Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth, The Addams Family finally broke out into full song and dance, and, for the most, America enjoyed.

Fast forward eight years, and there’s new excitement surrounding the name. The Addams are coming to the UK. In particular, they’re arriving at Birmingham’s Hippodrome theatre for a week long haunting this June. And, fittingly for the quirky clan of unconventionals, it isn’t your typical Lloyd-Webber or Kenwright who are bringing them here.

The rain and gothic gloom of proceedings is lifted quickly by Katy Lipson of Aria Entertainment, who, along with the show’s producer, John Stalker, expresses her excitement at getting to bring this, her first big commercial theatrical outing, to British crowds.

“I’m just a musical nut, really”, Lipson declares, “and it’s very rare that producers get the chance to take a brand that’s got a bit of commerciality around it with its title, but create something fresh with it.”

Lipton and Aria have already celebrated some success on and off West End over the past few years with critically acclaimed smaller musical hits including the likes of the European premiere of Vanities the Musical at Trafalgar Studios, Parade at Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester and more recently, The Toxic Avenger - The Musical at the Southwark Playhouse.

But make no mistake, Addams is the biggy. And neither the excitement nor the opportunity are lost on Lipson and her team.

“I think everyone involved sensed that there’s something to be created here that’s quite exciting.”

“When we first pitched our take on the show [in New York], we told them that we wanted to move away from the massive production that was on Broadway and do a kind of British take that is full theatre, but a sort of high-quality, slapstick production where we use the ensemble to enrich the story and where we design it and we cast it from the ground up to implement all those things.”

An ambitious approach, but has it paid off? Judging from the overwhelmingly positive audience response so far, Lipson seems to think so.

“It’s joyous, really. Everyone’s gelled together to lift the show creatively, and we’re delight with how it’s turned out. And also how people are responding to it.

It’s very funny, it’s euphoric, it’s very enjoyable and we hope it’s got a long, long future in this Country.”

After getting to see the show for ourselves, our attentions were then turned to the enviable cast that Aria, director Matthew White and co. have assembled for the tour, who joined us after a matinee performance. 

There’s an admirable absence of overt stunt casting here; most will be familiar with Samantha Womack for her recent tenure on Eastenders, but you’d be hard pressed to find any of those disagreeing with her being anything less than perfect for the icy, composed demeanour of Addams matriarch Morticia. 

The same goes for Les Dennis, who is also fresh off a run in soapdom after his Coronation Street character, the latest in a long line of husbands for Gail Platt, was recently bumped off. In fact, in a suitably Addams-esque twist of fate, Dennis happened to pay a coincidental return visit to the set on the day they were filming his character’s funeral!

And whilst many will be familiar with Dennis for said Corrie run, or for his days heading up Family Fortunes for ITV in the late 90s, in truth, much like Womack, he has a long line of theatre and musical credits to his name, and is similarly well cast in the role of Uncle Fester, not least of all down to his decision to completely shave his head on live TV after bagging the part.

Bringing in the younger audiences, Carrie Hope Fletcher may not quite be a household name (yet) for many, but she’s certainly loved and respected in the world of musical theatre. Taking on the pivotal role of a now-eighteen-year-old Wednesday Addams, Morticia and Gomez’ spirited daughter, Fletcher’s cannily named ‘Watch Me Wednesdays’ series of online videos are just part of why she has racked up over 640,000 Youtube subscribers, and almost as many followers on Twitter. The other part being the fact she is an exceptional actress, singer and performer.

Discussing the show, this excitement of blending the old with the new once again bubbles to the surface. On the first day of rehearsals, the cast went right back to the beginning and presented the original Charles Addams portraits of their characters, with Samantha Womack explaining how going right back to the roots - quite literally - of Morticia helped her find the physicality of the role:

“I liked the way that she was rooted.

She didn’t have legs or feet, she had roots.”

“So then you realise, ‘oh that’s how that walk started’. I didn’t know because I first saw the characters from watching the TV series and then the Hollywood movies. So it was interesting to see that it came from her just being rooted to the ground, which made her slightly less human.

That kind of physicality helped. I wasn’t just walking like that because I’d seen it in the film, but actually understood where it came from.”

Les Dennis goes on to discuss the humour that has always been associated with the characters and their brand.

“The humour in the cartoons was really dark, too.

There’s one of Fester standing by a sign of a town, and it reads ‘Population 263’, and he’s crossing out the 3 so you don’t know exactly what’s going on. They’re all very subtle, you have to really look at them.”

But how dark is too dark? How well can the Addams clan and its grim humour fare today? And is it too much for the growing younger audiences flocking to musical theatre?

“The thing with the Addams family is you never actually see them do anything malicious,” Fletcher insists, “There’s always the intention and the idea of it, but you never actually see them be mean or horrible or torturous.”

“And younger audiences don’t get a lot of the older references,” Womack adds.

“My daughter, who is twelve, she gets everything. But they’ve grown up in an age where you’ve got South Park and Family Guy, and I think kids are very different now. Whether you’re even allowing them to watch it or not, their understanding of things is much more mature now.”

It’s hard not to agree, particular in view of this production. Much like the Hollywood releases of the early 90s, and the TV show before them, the musical is a gothically comic, but never particularly violent or crass, foray into the weird and wonderful without venturing too near to the extremes. In fact, in hearing the cast tell of a song from the original show that got cut out for suggesting one of its characters got raped by a giant squid, it’s easy to see that this continues to be the Addams family as a decidedly - and fittingly - family-friendly affair.

So what is it about these characters that has leant them such an enduring appeal? According to the cast, they offer a genuine message of ‘this is who I am’ frankness and honesty that resonates to this day, as Fletcher and Womack explain:

“The Addams family are so functional. They base all of their relationships on honesty and nothing’s taboo,”

“And they think they’re completely normal. They think the outside world is just horrid and has just disintegrated into chaos, and so they feel very proud of their mantra, which is honesty and truth and being who you are.”

On the Addams’ view of the modern world descending into madness, Dennis chimes in:

“They’re not far wrong!”

Timeless as though its themes of familial bonds, assured self-identity and unflinching honesty may be, the task remained to bring these characters to the stage for the very first time to UK audiences in a way that would be satisfying and entertaining to crowds who are becoming increasingly more theatre-savvy.

Fletcher believes Andrew Lippa’s Tony-nominated music is a core part of the recipe for success, first getting hooked on the Addams-as-a-Musical idea after being asked to perform one of its numbers for Lippa’s debut UK concert.

“It’s just incredible. I’d never even heard of The Addams Family as a musical until he needed a female vocalist for the concert. I put myself forward and he contacted me and gave me ‘pulled’ , one of the numbers from the show.

I loved it. I bought the soundtrack off of Amazon and just devoured everything I could. I loved the movies as a child and I really enjoy those sort of Tim Burton-esque things, so I couldn’t believe I didn’t know there was a musical.

I said to my agent after the concert - ‘if it ever comes, even if there’s just a whiff of a rumour that it’s coming to the West End, can you please, please make sure that I’m first in line to audition for Wednesday’.”

For Les Dennis, it’s this culmination of old and new that in many ways epitomises the excitement of the Addams Family project as a whole. Taking what is known and loved about the characters, but nevertheless seizing this as their first stage outing in the UK, really lends the whole thing its unique appeal.

“I think we all come with our own kind of ideas of what the characters are.

I watched the original black and white TV series back with Jackie Coogan as Fester, and we had the cartoons to look at, which are great. But what I think is lovely for us is that we are here creating.

We are the first premiere in the UK, we’re not following another cast, we’re creating our own vision, with our own versions of the characters.”

The rain has stopped.

There’s even the odd glimpse of sun peeking out amongst the grey.

It all just seems very fitting for this latest journey by the family Addams. Many audiences going in to the production will know, roughly, the kind of experience they’re getting. The core essence of what these characters are, and why we are still seeing them in new light over eighty years after they debuted, remains intact and unabashed.

‘They’re creepy and they’re kooky.’

But beneath the gothic aesthetic, the dark comedy and the macabre shenanigans, there is a lot of light, honesty and levity, to be sure. The innate comedy of the clan hasn’t been lost, nor has their message of staying true to who you are, no matter how society may see it.

It’s not so much empowering as it is refreshingly assured.

Throw in a killer cast, an ambitious and forward-thinking team of new creatives in charge, some cracking, Tony-nominated tunes and a melting pot of ideas old and new that go right back through the brand’s rich heritage, and this debut UK production has forged itself as an exciting and fitting addition to the Addams Mausoleum.

And that, surely, is worth a double click.

THE ADDAMS FAMILY: THE MUSICAL COMEDY runs at the Birmingham Hippodrome theatre from Tuesday 6th to Saturday 10th June 2017.

Tickets: 0844 338 5000​  / Official Website: click​​​