Review: THE ADDAMS FAMILY Keeps it Spooky And Ooky At Broadway At Music Circus

They’re creepy and they’re kooky, and they need no introduction. Morticia, Gomez, and the gang are here in Sacramento to spice things up in The Addams Family musical. Since opening on Broadway in 2010, it’s become a favorite of audiences nationwide. Based on the cartoons of Charles Addams, The Addams Family is a new look at the ghoulish tribe that originally captured our hearts with the 1960s television series.

The Addams Family is back with the characters we all know and love, but they’re faced with an unexpected twist when a grown-up Wednesday meets and falls in love with a normal boy. Deliciously spooky music by Andrew Lippa (Wild Party) highlights a thrillingly macabre setting by designer Martin Flynn and lighting by Nathan W. Scheuer. The show opens, fittingly, in a graveyard, where the Addams have gathered to summon their ancestors for their annual visit. It also serves to foreshadow the fun the show promises, with “When You’re an Addams” introducing us all to what we’ll need to fit in with the coolest clan in Central Park (hint: it’s not country music in Tennessee). Wednesday’s love interest, Lucas Beineke, also struggles to fit in with the Addams. He’s from that pesky swing state, Ohio, and his compulsively rhyming mother and uptight father have instilled some not-so-adventurous Midwestern ideas into him that Wednesday needs to eliminate, stat. Embedded with subplots of several other complex relationships, The Addams Family also examines the dynamics between husband and wife, brother and sister, and human and moon. Ultimately, the lesson to be learned through the hilarity and the tension is what Fester already knows…love is all we need.

Jeff Skowron returns to Music Circus as the hilariously deadpan pillar of fatherly advice, Gomez, who is torn between a wife who sniffs out secrets like a bloodhound and a daughter who charmingly sets fire to religious door knockers. He is enthralling in his indecisiveness and charming in his numbers such as “Two Things” and “Trapped.” Sara Gettelfinger is his better half, an original Morticia doppelganger who ignites feminist angst in “Secrets” with the adroitly funny Gaelen Gilliland as the metrical bard, Alice Beineke. Jenna Lea Rosen is your quintessential Wednesday Addams – dark, brooding, manipulative, and smart. She and Oliver Stellan’s Pugsley steal the show in a tribute to sibling bonding, “Pulled.” Wednesday also brings out Alex Prakken’s bold side as Lucas Beineke, who shows that he can be both impulsive and an Ohioan to earn her love in the crowd favorite, “Crazier Than You.” Also thrilling was Billy Corgan lookalike Aaron Kaburick’s portrayal of Uncle Fester. Who knew that an Addams could possess such insightful reflection and altruism? Madeleine Doherty's Grandma and Tom Galantich's Mal Beineke complete the wacky family dynamic. For me, though, the most memorable performance is the one that required no words at all. William Ryall’s Lurch showed that talking is often overrated, and grunts suffice just as well. A stellar ensemble rounds out this gothic masterpiece of fun, and choreography by Robbie Roby brings energy to such numbers as “One Normal Night,” “Tango de Amor,” and “Move Toward the Darkness.” Don’t miss it…it’s to die for.

The Addams Family plays at Broadway at Music Circus through July 30. Tickets may be found online at BroadwaySacramento.com, by phone at (916) 557-1999, or in person at the Box Office at 1419 H Street in Sacramento.

Photo Credit: Kevin Graft

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