'THE ADDAMS FAMILY' Has a Kooky Feel & Fresh Broadway Look

THE ADDAMS FAMILY may be director/designers Phelim McDermott & Julian Crouch's Broadway debut, but anyone who caught their SHOCKHEADED PETER (which also played a stint at Chicago's Athenaeum Theatre) witnessed the kind of subversive and imaginative eye they use to form their creatively inventive evenings of theatre.  Their new musical, by composer Andrew Lippa (THE WILD PARTY), book writers Marshall Brickman & Rick Elice (JERSEY BOYS), and New York Times illustrator Charles Addams' source material, provides a vast visual playground for the likes of Morticia, Gomez, & Lurch to seduce, swordfight, and tango the night away.

In the opening scene (a tango-infused bat mitzvah of sorts), Wednesday (Krysta Rodriguez) looses her pigtails, pledges allegiance to the Addams family, and informs Morticia of a new love, schoolboy Lucas Beineke (Wesley Taylor). Based on Addams' comic strips and not the classic television show or films (though there are tongue-in-cheek references to both), THE ADDAMS FAMILY follows the mysterious clan as they meet daughter Wednesday's boyfriend and his parents (Terrance Mann and Carolee Carmello) for the first time.

At the bottom of the ancestral totem pole is the plucky Adam Riegler as Pugsley and Rodriguez as Wednesday, who is severely well-sung.  Taylor's Lucas Beineke, the object of Wednesday's affection, is poetic and suave in his droopy teenage delivery.  The two young lovers' duets throughout the evening contain the show's strongest examples of dramatic chemistry and dangerous animal attraction.  "Crazier Than You" is bound to be a musical theatre duet standard.  Zachary James' is comically droll as the ever-present Lurch, while Jackie Hoffman's Grandma is painfully (PAINFULLY!) underused. Yet, her feisty presence (when the creative team allows her stage time) is rooted in comedic genius.

As the Addams parentals, Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth act their roles to a tee, yet stumble upon technical dilemmas throughout.  Lane delivers some brilliantly timed one-liners (often set up by the velvety voicEd Mann or the beltingly wild Carmello), but his European accent fades in and out in.  Neuwirth is allotted time to show off her phenomenal dance abilities, but her singing comes off as strained.

Or maybe the songs themselves are to blame.

What still needs a little work is Lippa's score.  The show's opening number, "Clandango," and Uncle Fester's kick line embedded "Let's Not Talk About Anything Else But Love" want to be big flashy Broadway production numbers in a world designed to be full of cobwebs and shadows.  While musical director Mary-Mitchell Campbell has the orchestra sounding lush, the unified mesh between haunted beauty and Broadway glitz isn't quite there yet. And while Brickman & Elice's book is joke-filled and peppered with modern zingers (Grandma's reaction to the current texting craze halted the show with boisterous applause), the show's final loose-ends-tied-up scene could use some punching up.

But this is Drama Desk-winning composer Andrew Lippa's vehicle, so there definitely are a few musical gems during the show. Rodriguez's "Pulled" and Carmello's "Waiting" are especially strong, showcasing the performers' soaring vocals, and Riegler's "What If" has perfectly macabre lyrics, but is sung simply and sweet (any younger sibling who's ever felt abandoned by an older will relate).

What still lingers in my memory is the mixture of a perfectly cast performance in Kevin Chamberlin's Uncle Fester and the simply original staging in several of his scenes.  McDermott amd Crouch successfully lure Broadway audiences in with promises of Nathan Lane & kick lines, but throw in stunning elements of balloon moons and back-lit puppetry.  Fester's love song, "The Moon and Me," is a reminder of how sometimes, theatrically, less is more.

What's commendable about THE ADDAMS FAMILY is McDermott & Crouch's ability to make a wildly original evening of complex visuals and rousing lead performances with sometimes nothing more than a staircase, two walls, and a red velvet show curtain.  As designers, they've made the Addams home comes alive with hidden coves (for an onslaught of oceanic puppets), dark corners (lit eerily by Natasha Katz), and a Greek Spanish chorus who, thanks to Sergio Trujillo's choreography, move with flowing grace & ghostly poise.

Chicago is bound to see its biggest and most successful pre-Broadway premiere with THE ADDAMS FAMILY since, say, THE PRODUCERS, and rightfully so.  With a cast like this (two Tony Award winners and three multiple nominees) and a top notch production team transforming the Oriental Theatre into an ever-changing museum, you don't want to miss this family reunion.

Photos: Joan Marcus

THE ADDAMS FAMILY runs now until January 10, 2010 at The Ford Center for the Performing Arts/Oriental Theatre, 24 West Randolph Street.  For tickets, visit www.TheAddamsFamilyMusical.com or www.BroadwayInChicago.com.

To post a comment, you must register and login.