The Addams Family the musical: REVIEWED by a fan

When a new musical premieres and it’s based on one of the most beloved fictional families of all time, there’s a lot of pressure to do the characters justice- yes, this is a family that dumps boiling oil on Christmas carolers and encourages the children to torture each other, but it’s a family whose uniqueness makes them so beloved. You might even say they’re “altogether ooky”: that’s right, the Addams Family is back. Their journey to Broadway was long and plagued with problems, but they’ve finally arrived after rewrites, new directors, and a host of other changes. Was the effort worth it? In terms of the show as a whole, I would say yes. In terms of the characters as we know them, and the stellar cast that has been assembled, I would say that more work could have -and should have- been done.
First, let’s take a look at the source. This is a group of characters who have appeared in almost every conceivable type of media: they began life in a series of cartoons drawn by Charles Addams for the New Yorker, but soon crossed over into TV, film, animation, and many tie-in products with great success. Given their instant recognition among the public (just mention Cousin Itt or snap your fingers twice, see what happens), larger-than-life personalites, and New York background, this sounded like can’t-miss material for a show, especially combined with the cast of stars assembled. However, the show ran into numerous problems out of town: trying to accommodate the stars with enough material, going from an experimental director to a conventional musical comedy one (Jerry Zaks), and adding and dropping material constantly. The changes were meant to make the show run smoothly and become a megahit comedy in the style of The Producers. In the process, though, I feel that the new story has hurt the characters and changed them too much- using the cartoons as the main inspiration is fine, but almost no one alive today was first introduced to the characters this was, and the aspects of their personalities from the big and small screen that first endeared them to us should be preserved also. This is a work in which the characters intrinsically take precedent over the story- they are more than familiar, they are an institution. Many complaints from Chicago were in regards to the book’s treatment of Morticia, the mother and arguably the true head of the family. A cool but sensual character, Morticia is suddenly worried about growing old and being unattractive-this development, coming from a woman who could always drive her husband mad with desire, is frankly ridiculous. This aspect of the character has thankfully been pulled back since the tryout, after derision from reviewers and the public- a song on the subject was dropped- but she still makes frequent remarks about her illogical worries. It may just be meant to give her something to do, but it doesn’t work in terms of how the audience has always known her. One character whose personality was strongly shaped the films was young daughter Wednesday Addams: when the move from TV to film came, she changed from a mischievous six year-old to a deadpan preteen with wisdom beyond her years and a sadistic streak a mile wide. Christina Ricci’s devastatingly funny portrayal in the two feature films is the one best remembered by fans, especially young ones- but there is little of that beloved character in the Broadway version: she has been aged to 18 years old and is in love for the first time. Instead of enjoying torture and sarcasm, here Wednesday is fixated on her boyfriend and sings of how love suddenly makes her fond of bunnies and Disney World. Not only is this another completely out-of-character development, we don’t even get to see the change take place- we’re thrust into it from Wednesday’s first line. A change in character this big should have been built up to gradually. What makes the change even worse is that Wednesday’s love affair provides the narrative thrust of the show- there is no getting away from the flawed characterization, and perhaps worst of all, her beau has little personality. Yet if one is able to move past these flaws in the book (though it may be difficult), many of the things we love about this family are intact: not only are most of the characterizations spot on, there are familiar sights like swordfighting , torture on the rack, man-eating plants, and the tango, as well as brief appearances by extended family members Thing and Cousin Itt. Though the treatment of the canon is important, equally important is how the show itself stands up when viewed on its own.
Taken as a musical alone, there are quite a few delightful things in “The Addams Family”, such as the cast, the gorgeous sets and costumes, some tuneful, witty songs (“Death is just around the corner”; “Let’s not talk about anything else but love”) and some truly outstanding puppetry, especially a tassel that comes to life and a friendly monster who lives under a bed. The story, which at times relies too much on pop culture jokes, seems to borrow heavily from classic comedies like You Can’t Take It With You- girl brings home boy to meet her eccentric family, who clash with his normal family- and took some heat in Chicago for focusing too much on the new characters. Rewrites were made, but the show still lacks balance in terms of the cast.
Much fanfare was made over casting the lead roles of Gomez and Morticia, who are played by Broadway superstars Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth. Lane, always good for a laugh, does much of his usual shtick and makes it work for the character- he resembles the original cartoon a great deal, and has much of the zany enthusiasm John Astin gave the character on television. Neuwirth fits the look of her character perfectly and nails her grounded eccentricity. However, she needs more to do than make Morticia’s illogical complaints, and she only gets to show off her stellar dancing skills near the end of the piece- though this may be due to the fact that she is no longer physically able to dance as she once did. The ones who steal the show are Kevin Chamberlain as Uncle Fester and Jackie Hoffman as Grandmama: Chamberlain commands a Greek Chorus of ghosts and knocks the audience dead with zingers like “Was Napoleon right for Josephine?/Was Polio right for the Salk Vaccine?/(breaking fourth wall) Were you folks right for the Mezzanine?” His big Act II number, an ode to “The Moon and Me”, is undoubtedly the show’s highlight, resembling a musical sequence from an old Betty Boop Cartoon. Hoffman proves she has the market cornered on salty old women with some bawdily amusing improvs. Krysta Rodriguez, as Wednesday, also suffers from the way the book changes her character, and never makes us believe Wednesday was once a steely destroyer, though she has a nice voice. Lurch (Zachary James) and Pugsley (Adam Reigler) have their characters down and perform ably. Lucas(Wesley Taylor) fails to make any kind of impression- throughout the show, I had no idea what Wednesday could possibly see in this blank slate, especially during their jarringly poppy love duet. Lucas’s parents, Mal and Alice Beineke, are played by Broadway veterans Terrence Mann and Carolee Carmello, and their lot is perhaps the saddest of all. The Beineke family was a much larger part of the show in Chicago- the fact that their roles have been trimmed down is good for the show (well, is it called “The Beineke Family”?) but not so good for these fine, extremely underused actors. The function of these two characters in the show is to provide contrast, and to do that they have to be as “boring” as possible. It’s an uphill battle, but Mann and Carmello do manage to make terminal squareness endearing by the time the evening is over- particularly Carmello, who makes Alice battier than advertised, and sweetly wistful for happier times with Mal. She has one solo song, “Waiting”, and you can just see her squeeze every last drop from it as she sings: it’s brief, and Carmello must know that she’ll soon be shoved into the background again. Though it’s a far cry from her leading roles in “Mamma Mia” and the ill-fated “Lestat”, she makes her mark with what she’s got. Mann’s character is the straightest of straight men, and he barely has a thing to do onstage expect react to the craziness around him. This is, keep in mind, the original Beast in “Beauty and the Beast”, Javert from “Les Miserables” and Rum Tum Tugger in “Cats” when those shows premiered on Broadway. Those roles are by no means small or easy, and Mann must be bored out of his mind backing up Nathan Lane eight shows a week. When his character finally gets around to a breakthrough, he sings the 11’o clock number in his always thrilling voice, but one wonders why he and Carmello have stuck with the show. Still, when those lights go down and the overture begins, and you get a thrill as you hear those familiar strains, suddenly compelled to snap and clap along: Da-da-da dum. (snap snap) Da-da-da-dum. (snap snap)….you may have your money’s worth right there.