That Kooky Broadway Family

[wonderboynj]

I had the pretty good fortune of seeing The Addams Family musical tonight, I mostly enjoyed it.

The things I did like.

Nathan Lane & Bebe Neuwirth as Gomez & Morticia Addams. Kevin Chamberlin as Uncle Fester may have the best part of the show, sohipithurts you should definitely see him, but try to get discount tickets if they are available :)

Some of the songs are really good, I think the cast recording if it sticks to just the songs, might be a very enjoyable experience.

The set is really well done, as are the puppets. Even though the creators have stated that the show is based on the cartoons, not the TV show or the 2 movies, we get the familiar "snap snap" theme music, plus appearances by Cousin It and Thing. I believe all 3 things were from the television show.

Several of the reviews have said the show's plot of Wednesday asking her family to be normal when they meet Lucas Lucas Lucas' family is stupid, because the Addams believe they are normal. I didn't have a problem with that aspect at all, I think every child, no matter what their family is like, just wants their family to be normal in that situation.

I thought Gomez and Morticia's quandry about getting old, etc, was very touching.

Some of the jokes are very funny, even if they were predictable. "Stop the damn texting and pick up a book!" and "Ohio is a swing state!" Oh, and lest we forget "What's the one thing we all want but not everyone has? Health care?"

We had great seats.

What I didn't care for.

The first & second act felt totally disjointed and Uncle Fester is missing for most of the second, though he does get two big parts. A cute dance with the moon and one other thing I won't give away. sirpupnyc pointed out that mostly the second act was all couples.

Morticia doesn't get to dance very much, but when she did lift up her skirt (literally), it was very enjoyable. In fact, I'd say Morticia doesn't get much of a part at all, the whole show is clearly Gomez'.

The writers, who clearly didn't spend any time on the second act at all, should have had the time to research that in 1969 John Lennon wouldn't have discovered that "All You Need Is Love".

The show will probably run forever. Five years ago even Wicked got bad reviews and look what happened to them!

If you can get a discount of some sort (doubtful) it's worth your time to see it. I'm not so sure it's worth the $136.50! to see, unless you have money to throw away. In which case you are probably not reading this.

Comments

[wonderboynj.livejournal.com]

It is actually a little better than it appears in the Letterman clip hehe

[dendren.livejournal.com]

my main reason to want to see this is Bebe Neuwirth... I just love her. Unfotunately by the time I do see it she will prolly be replace by Rita Moreno or someone ;)

[wonderboynj.livejournal.com]

Get here quickly then boy!

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, I've heard mostly negatives ... major negatives ... except for Kevin's performance. I hope they can fix the book .. or is it already set in stone?

Thanks for the review!

HUGS!

[wonderboynj.livejournal.com]

It opened last Thursday so the book is set. But I wonder (and you would know this) are they allowed to do changes to a show before they take it out on the road? I would assume they can

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

Absolutely. For instance, for the original production of NINE, the national touring set had to be redesigned to travel. The location was changed from a spa to a train station. Sometimes, changes that work on a tour are then reverse implemented into the Broadway company. If The Addams Family receives scathing reviews and producers and creative staff aren't sure the show will have legs, they can make changes after the show opens. When "Baby" was in previews in 1984, they did a massive overhaul. I saw the show four times, two in previews, two after it opened. They cut the narrator role to nothing ... only voice over and one brief solo. They cut Beth Fowler's song, "Patterns". It made her ineligible for a Tony award; the song has been added to every subsequent production of "Baby". So, yes ... change happens to shows after they open.

[jazzbearny.livejournal.com]

I seem to remember reading somewhere that they replaced the mambo-in-the-graveyard number with a different song? I guess not...

[wonderboynj.livejournal.com]

Cliff, the number above is the new opening number. It replaced a song called Clandango. I think there were 5 songs dropped altogether.

[jazzbearny.livejournal.com]

I appreciate the info!
I see that they had a short run in Chicago before coming to Broadway. It's sad that it's too expensive these days to have pre-Broadway tours of musicals where all the kinks are worked out before hitting the Big Apple, like they did in the old days....