The Addams Family musical at Theatre@41 this autumn

If you are after some early autumn plans with a bit of gothic humour, The Addams Family musical is landing at Theatre@41 on Monkgate for a run across Halloween week. Wharfemede Productions stages it from Tuesday 27 October to Saturday 31 October, so it sits right in the middle of the spookiest week of the year. The show is a gothic musical comedy with music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa and a book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, based on the characters Charles Addams first created.

The story is a familiar one for anyone who knows the family: Wednesday Addams falls in love with a 'normal' young man and invites his parents to dinner, which sets off the usual chaos, secrets and macabre mayhem. It has been described as a spooky celebration of family, love and embracing the wonderfully weird, and it leans into that contrast between the Addams' macabre tastes and the Beinekes' suburban norms.

Behind the scenes, the production is directed by Dr Helen 'Bells' Spencer, who has woven elements of commedia dell'arte into the staging. Wharfemede Productions is a North Yorkshire company she co-founded with Nick Sephton in 2024, so this is a local production rather than a touring one. The cast is a full ensemble: Zander Fick as Gomez, Henrietta Linnemann as Morticia, Abbie Law as Wednesday, Matthew Warry as Pugsley, Nick Sephton as Fester, Rosy Rowley as Grandma, Chris Gibson as Lurch, Steven Jobson as Mal Beineke, Connie Howcroft as Alice Beineke and Dan Crawfurd-Porter as Lucas Beineke. A separate Ancestors ensemble rounds things out, with Adela Barrett, Benedict Merry, Catherine Foster, David Copley-Martin, Freya McIntosh, Madeleine Jones, Rachel Merry and Rianna Louise.

The creative team is equally busy. James Robert Ball is musical director, Connie Howcroft choreographs, Suzanne Perkins handles costumes, Will Nicholson takes on lighting and sound, and Nick Sephton manages the production. It is a fairly large cast and crew for a run of this size, which should come through in the scale of the numbers.

On the practical side, performances are at 7:30pm each evening, with a Saturday matinee at 2:30pm for anyone who would rather catch it earlier in the day. Tickets are £20, with concessions at £18, and you can book them at www.tickets.41monkgate.co.uk. Theatre@41 is at 41 Monkgate, York, YO31 7PB, so it is easy to get to and back from in the evening.

Whether you are taking the kids or just fancy a bit of spooky comedy to mark the turn of the season, it is a well-known show and a family-friendly one, which makes it an easy pick for a midweek evening in late October. With the run falling squarely across Halloween week, it is about as fitting a slot as a gothic musical could ask for.