Joanne Clifton shares a fierce love of family with her stage character Morticia Addams

Musical theatre star and Strictly Come Dancing champion Joanne Clifton will play Morticia Adams in a production of The Addams Family that is touring to Sheffield.
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Joanne , who won Strictly five years ago, will team up with Cameron Blakeley (cast as Gomez) in the story of everyone’s favourite kooky family.

The musical is a dream come true for Joanne who is a big fan of The Addams Family. She said: “Me and my brother Kevin used to watch it on TV when we were kids and we loved the movies. I was so happy when I got this job I even did a painting of Morticia.

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“It’s a feel-good, fun, laugh-out loud family show. Audiences know the characters, they know the world of The Addams Family from the TV show and films but there are some surprises in store. And it’s really, really funny.

Joanne Clifton as Morticia in The Addams Family (photo: Craig Sugden).Joanne Clifton as Morticia in The Addams Family (photo: Craig Sugden).
Joanne Clifton as Morticia in The Addams Family (photo: Craig Sugden).

“It’s fun to see this family who are not the happy-go-lucky Disneyworld-ish model American family. They’re not typical in any way and it’s really fun to watch how they behave compared to your average TV or movie family."

The show, which is at Sheffield Lyceum from November 23 to 27, 2021. is packed with musical numbers including Death Around The Corner, a song that Joanne loves performing. “Morticia is so dark and Gothic and she has this big Broadway number about death. I think it’s fabulous.”

Does Joanne share any similarities with Morticia. “I am a Scorpio so I could maybe have a dark side but it doesn’t come out very often, “ she said. “The main thing we have in common is a fierce love and protection of family, but I don’t think she likes to sit at home playing with Slime or doing jigsaw puzzles in her spare time, whereas I do."

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Joanne even takes jigsaws with her when she’s on tour. She said: “I take a jigsaw puzzle to every venue. If I manage to finish it I give it to one of the dressers if they want it. If I don’t finish it I dismantle it and take it to the next venue to have another go at it.”

Her musical theatre credits include starring as Janet in the UK tour of The Rocky Horror Show, Alex Owens in the UK tour of Flashdance at Dale Tremont in Top Hat.

During the Covid pandemic when theatres were in lockdown, Joanne teamed up with Katya Jones from Strictly and a friend Sasha Latoya to create an online motivational course called The Beyond Lockdown Empire, which went so well that they turned it into a book. She continued working on a musical that she’s writing with Ben Adams called Bloody Nora.

She played the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella at Sheffield Lyceum a couple of years ago. "It was great fun and I’ve been to Sheffield many times. I absolutely love it. I love the city, the people and the theatre itself.”

Tickets for The Addams Family from £15, go to www.sheffieldtheatres.co.uk or call 0114 249 6000.

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