The Addams Family (musical)
The Addams Family is a musical comedy with music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa and book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice. The show is based upon The Addams Family characters created by Charles Addams in his single-panel gag cartoons, which depict a ghoulish American family with an affinity for all things macabre. Although numerous film and television adaptations of Addams' cartoons exist, the musical is the first stage show based on the characters.[1] The Addams Family is also the first show produced by Elephant Eye Theatricals.[2]
The Addams Family
Andrew Lippa
comic strip The Addams Family
by Charles Addams
After a tryout in Chicago in 2009,[3] the musical opened on Broadway in April 2010. The original cast featured Nathan Lane as Gomez and Bebe Neuwirth as Morticia.[4] The production closed on December 31, 2011, and a revised national tour of North America began in September 2011.
The Addams Family won several awards during its Broadway run including a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design,[5] an Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Set Design,[6] and the 2010 Drama League Award for Distinguished Achievement in Musical Theatre Award (presented to Nathan Lane).[7] The show was nominated for two Tony Awards, among other nominations.[8]
Development[edit]
In 2007, the producers announced that they had obtained the rights from the Tee and Charles Addams Foundation to create a musical adaptation of The Addams Family for Broadway, and they anticipated an opening during the 2009–2010 season after an out-of-town tryout. This was the first time that Charles Addams' comic creations were licensed to serve as the basis for a stage production.[1] The musical's lead producers were Stuart Oken and Roy Furman.[9] In addition to Oken and Furman, Vivek Tiwary also joined The Addams Family musical's team of producers.[10] The Addams Foundation reportedly retained control over the show's content and insisted that, instead of drawing the plot from The Addams Family television series or films, the production team devise an original musical based solely on Addams' cartoons.[11]
Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice were engaged to write the book, and Andrew Lippa composed the show's score. Improbable theatre founders Julian Crouch and Phelim McDermott were the original directors and designers, with choreography by Sergio Trujillo.[1] Crouch said that, when brainstorming ideas for the overall appearance of the show, he and McDermott turned to the character of Uncle Fester for inspiration, asking themselves, "If Fester was going to do a Broadway show, what kind of Broadway show would he do?"[12] The partners described the result as "an off-beat take on 19th Century Gothic".[12]
Some changes were made after the Chicago tryout. The songs "Clandango", "Passionate and True", "At Seven", and "Second Banana" were replaced with "When You're an Addams", "Where Did We Go Wrong?", "Morticia", and "Just Around the Corner". The songs "One Normal Night", "Full Disclosure, Part 2", "Crazier Than You", "Move Toward the Darkness", and "Tango De Amor" were rewritten.
Productions[edit]
Broadway[edit]
The show began previews on Broadway at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on March 8, 2010, with an official opening night of April 8.[13][14] The production was originally estimated to cost $10 million,[15] but more recent reports give the budget as $15 million.[16]
All of the cast from the Chicago tryout transferred to Broadway. The creative team included direction by McDermott and Crouch, choreography by Trujillo, lighting by Natasha Katz, puppets by Basil Twist, special effects by Gregory Meeh, and orchestrations by Larry Hochman.[17]
The show won both the Drama Desk Award and Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Set Design but received no other major awards.[18] However, it did win the Broadway.com Audience Awards for Favorite New Broadway Musical, Favorite Performance by a Featured Actor in a Broadway Musical (Kevin Chamberlin), Favorite Breakthrough Performance (Krysta Rodriguez), and Favorite Onstage Pair (Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth).[19]
A May 2011 article in Playbill reported that the show had by then grossed over $62 million.[20] The show celebrated its 500th performance on June 16, 2011.[21] Playbill reported in May 2011 that "plans for other international productions are currently underway."[20]
Cassandra Peterson was in talks to take over the role of Morticia until the producers decided to close the show at the end of 2011.[22]
The Broadway production closed on December 31, 2011, after 35 previews and 722 performances.[23]
National tours[edit]
A United States tour began in September 2011 at the Mahalia Jackson Theater for the Performing Arts in New Orleans.[24] Tour stops included Atlanta, Miami, Boston, Hartford, Saint Paul, Philadelphia, Dallas, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Los Angeles, Kansas City, Orlando, Florida, and San Diego. Most of these cities include those that are members of Elephant Eye Theatricals and worked on producing The Addams Family on Broadway and tour.[25][26] The musical was also performed in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, at the Toronto Centre for the Arts during November 16–27, 2011.[27][28] Douglas Sills and Sara Gettelfinger played Gomez and Morticia Addams, respectively.[29] The touring version has "a new central plot conflict, new or revised or reordered songs to replace old ones, fresh orchestrations and dance where necessary."[30] The tour finished on December 2012 at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa.
A second tour of North America, produced by Phoenix Entertainment, launched in 2013, starring Jennifer Fogarty as Wednesday, KeLeen Snowgren as Morticia, Jesse Sharp as Gomez, Shaun Rice as Uncle Fester, and Sam Primack as Pugsley. After the second national tour, The Addams Family was due to tour Asia. Most of the second national tour cast was set to perform in the Asian tour except Sam Primack as Pugsley, who was to be replaced by Connor Barth.
Return to Chicago[edit]
The Addams Family returned to Chicago in a sit-down production at Mercury Theater Chicago opening February 5, 2015, after a week of previews, and closing April 15. The production, which featured a tighter post-National Tour script and a more Chicago improv-oriented cast, was directed by L. Walter Stearns, musical directed by Eugene Dizon, and choreographed by Brenda Didier; with scene design by Bob Knuth, lighting by Nick Belley, sound by Mike Ross, costumes by Frances Maggio, and magic by Neil Tobin.
The cast featured Karl Hamilton (Gomez), Rebecca Prescott (Morticia), Harter Clingman (Uncle Fester), Amanda Hartley (Grandma), Dara Cameron (Wednesday), Brennan Dougherty (Pugsley Addams), Jeff Diebold (Lurch), Jason Grimm (Mal Beineke), Cory Goodrich (Alice Beineke), and Henry McGinniss (Lucas Beineke).
The show received unanimous rave reviews. "Comic perfection at the Mercury. It's a very good bet that The Addams Family will haunt the Mercury for months to come" (Chicago Sun-Times).[31] "Much more relaxed and infinitely funnier. Enjoyed L. Walter Stearns Mercury Theater production more than any of my previous visits with this family [including pre-Broadway tryout, Broadway, and National Tour production]. Relentless focus on laughs" (Chicago Tribune).[32] "An absolute delight! The best show I've seen so far this year" (New City Chicago).[33] The production was honored with three 2015 Jeff Award nominations[34] and won Outstanding Production—Musical—Midsize.[35]
International productions[edit]
The first international production opened in March 2012 at Teatro Renault, São Paulo, Brazil, produced by T4F with Marisa Orth and Daniel Boaventura as Morticia and Gomez, respectively. It closed in December 2012.[36] The same production started on January 10, 2013, at Vivo Rio, in Rio de Janeiro.[37][38] A Brazilian revival opened on March 10, 2022, in São Paulo at the same Teatro Renault, with Marisa Orth and Daniel Boaventura reprising their roles.
The Addams Family had its European premiere on September 29, 2012, at Östgötateatern, Norrköping, Sweden. directed by Mattias Carlsson and conducted by Johan Siberg. Starring: Petra Nielsen (Morticia), Christian Zell (Gomez), Jenny Holmgren (Wednesday), Fabian Nikolajeff/Kalle Jansson (Pugsley), Jesper Barkselius (Fester), Gunnel Samuelsson (Grandma), Jan Unestam (Lurch), Carina Söderman (Alice), Sven Angleflod (Mal) and Linus Henriksson (Lucas)[39]
Synopsis[edit]
Broadway version[edit]
Setting: The Addams Family Mansion, Central Park, New York City[59]
Analysis of book and music[edit]
In addition to the original characters created by Addams, the musical introduces the new roles of Mal, Alice, and Lucas Beineke, who are described as "straight arrow Midwesterners."[61] The ensemble consists of a group of Addams Family ancestors, each from a different time period.
Lippa said he wrote most of the score to match each character's personality.[62] This included giving Gomez a Flamenco-style Spanish score, Wednesday a more contemporary score, and Fester a vaudevillian score.[63] "Let's Not Talk About Anything Else but Love" is "jazzy/swingy/catchy" and "Happy/Sad" is a ballad reminiscent of Stephen Sondheim.[64]
The Addams Family
(Cast Recording of the Musical)
Reception[edit]
The Variety review of the Chicago tryout said "The show [is] overcrammed and underfocused...From a structural perspective, the storytelling is all rising action followed by rapid and not really convincing resolution... it's very funny, with special nods to Chamberlin, whose ultra-corny number 'The Moon and Me' is a comic highlight, as well as to Hoffman and Lane."[69] The Chicago Sun-Times theater critic wrote a laudatory review,[70] but while the Chicago Tribune critic found the musical enjoyable, he felt "the show is hijacked by the Addamses behaving weirdly (i.e. normally)" and that Morticia's "crisis of confidence about getting old" is "a very uneasy narrative twist" and perhaps too far out of character.[71]
Reviews for the Broadway production were mixed but mostly negative (the median grade of 27 major reviews was "D+").[72] John Simon, writing in the Bloomberg News called it "A glitzy-gloomy musical in which the quick and the dead are equally full of character, especially the chorus of ancestors that exhibits wonderful esprit de corpse."[73] However, Ben Brantley in The New York Times wrote that it is "A tepid goulash of vaudeville song-and-dance routines, Borscht Belt jokes, stingless sitcom zingers and homey romantic plotlines".[74] There was general praise for the performers, particularly Nathan Lane. An Associated Press reviewer stated: "Lane, complete with a deliciously phony Spanish accent, is the hardest working actor on Broadway. Whatever they are paying him – and I hope it is a lot – he's worth the price. The actor possesses a theatrical gusto that makes the musical move whenever he is on stage."[72]
Despite many negative reviews by New York critics, it has consistently played to 100% capacity and grossed third only to Wicked and The Lion King each week since it opened in previews.[75] The New York Times reported that despite "the sort of scathing reviews that would bury most shows", the production had $851,000 in ticket sales on top of a $15 million advance sale the weekend following its opening, "huge figures for a new Broadway run". The Times attributed this success to a beloved brand-name title, nostalgia, star strength, and a top-notch marketing campaign by the producers.[3]
The post-tour return to Chicago was hailed as "triumphant" (New City Chicago),[33] and moved Hedy Weiss of the Chicago Sun-Times to issue this directive: "Note to Broadway (and not for the first time): If you want to see how to make a musical really snap into place — how to connect with an audience in that uncanny way that is so crucial for success, how to delineate characters so that we cannot help but cheer for them, and how to turn every production number into a giddy explosion of song and dance — pay a visit to the ideally intimate Mercury Theater Chicago."[31]