Addams Family Review 1/05/10 -Slight Spoilers-- Page 3

[Sally]

Posted: 1/12/10 at 4:41pm

averagebwaynut is quite right about pre-Broadway tryouts being riskier than usual investments. At this point my score is ...

1 hit--- The Producers

1 flop---The Pirate Queen

1 ? ---The Addams Family

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 1/12/10 at 5:46pm

I saw the show on Jan 9th and enjoyed it, despite its obvious flaws.

The biggest drawbacks for me were:


***SPOILERS BLAH BLAH BLAH***


Half the score is forgettable with Full Disclosure and Second Banana as the most obvious candidates for being replaced entirely. The melodies ad lyrics are wildly incongruous with the characters and scenes. I've never been a Lippa fan, but I really went in with a positive attitude that he was chosen for this project for a very good reason. Unfortunately, my opinion hasn't changed much for the better. To me, his songs tend to have a generic quality lacking the underpinning of scene, setting, occasion or cohesion (especially his Wild Party score). Vaudeville works great with Fester as his character is often associated with the corny stereotypical Vaudevillian clown, but it doesn't work with a family dinner (coupled with Rent's La Vie Boheme table choreography...I still don't understand what that was about...was it a spoof and if it was, why was it the sole Broadway musical spoof in the show?) nor does it work as Morticia's second act big solo number. And why did the Passion and Love song (or whatever it's called) leave me humming Wild and Reckless from Drat! The Cat!? It's sad that I can recall a forgotten song from a forgetten flop I've only heard two or three times over a Lane/Neuwirth duet in a big splashy sold-out musical based on The Addams Family?

Morticia's subplot is completely at odds with her established character. I get trying to do something new with Wednesday's character (her teen "coming of age" was a smart idea, but not well-executed or fully fleshed out) as a catalyst for reintroducing the family in a new way to audiences, but there is far more there that could be mined in terms of plot without having to compromise the integrity of more stable characters in the story.

The first act needs to establish the popular eccentricities of the family (i.e. the indelible trademark of the entire franchise) before launching into Wednesday's newly acquired weakness and introducing the other family.

If the new family is portrayed as being so quirky, where's the big contrast? While Caramello's character is sort of cute, it really needs to be dialed back a bit if they want to establish her as a "them" in this story. It doesn't help that her son already looks deranged enough to play an Addams relative.

The design is fabulous and I enjoyed some of the songs with Pulled and Let's Not Talk About Anything Else But Love being the standouts for me. The Fester material totally worked for me and his song to the moon was a refreshing new take on an old "in-one" musical comedy character song. The cast were uniformly strong with the two standouts being Hoffman and Chamberlain (both will probably earn Tony noms) with Hoffman being the biggest standout performance of the evening, judging from the audience reaction. With such a relatively small role, she pulled the comedic rug out from under both Lane and Neuwirth and bowed the biggest ovation of the night (including a lengthy ovation for one line which stopped the show). Right now, I would place money on Hoffman for winning the Tony if that performance was any indication of what's to come to Broadway, despite what others think about Lansbury having it in the bag yet again.

And yes, Virginia, there is a story and a plot. The show is not a revue. And the audience reaction was far from tepid the night I went, which was during the worst winter storm of the season thus far. It was quite possibly the most enthusiastic response I've seen to any show in Chicago in the last eight years starting with the opening tableau. Did every number and joke land? Nope. But the ones that did, struck gold.

[Pgenre]

Posted: 1/12/10 at 6:22pm

Mister Matt, I agree with you for the most part about many things. The score sucks through and through, but the costumes (particularly the ancient relatives) and some of the uses of the staircases were well done. The cast and the sets are clearly the best parts of the show.

The rest of the show I found a few more issues with than you did, but I am so glad you put so much time and effort into expressing your thoughts and I am thankful someone else here agrees with my general opinion though you certainly found more to like than I could. Everyone around here makes wild, unfounded claims about how I have it out for this show (and haven't seen it, which I actually have), but actually I just think the property has so much potential, in addition to the amazing cast, and it all was wasted. You know you're in trouble when Morticia's entire character could be cut and it would have no effect on the show. It's just a series of vignettes, a vaudeville, barely even a show, in my opinion.

Do you think they'll cut "Full Disclosure" and Carolee? For some reason I think they will. What a waste, but the song is terrible.

The Squid song and "Clandango" were the only sections of the show I liked (though it seems I am the only one), though "Clandango" does not work and makes no sense. I found most of the puppets and "magic" underused and the Thing/curtain thing out-of-place.

I disliked the material before I saw it based on the script/score, then I saw it and hated it. The directors and bookwriters have no handle on this material at all. Even now, I don't think it can be fixed with this bomb of a score. Bebe could be easily replaced or cut altogether and no one would notice.

As I said when I first heard the score: poor man's Kander & Ebb with some bottom drawer Schwartz thrown in. The show is certainly better than the score, but it should be SO much more.

And those of you that will pile on me after this post, I will continue to not respond to your vicious bile (whether here or on PMs) so take your own advice and STFU.

P

P.S. The audiences loved FWC too. Updated On: 1/12/10 at 06:22 PM

[LilMiZBroADwaY23]

Posted: 1/12/10 at 6:31pm

I concur with you about the audience reaction Mister Matt. I believe I saw it the same night as Helene (Friday, correct me if I'm wrong) and I've never seen a happier audience. I was in a box seat and got to see some fantastic reactions with laughter and applause stopping the show multiple times. I also witnessed them leaping to their feet at curtain. So I feel safe to say that much of the audience really enjoyed the show and did not leave with an unhappy face.

[Helene2]

Posted: 1/12/10 at 6:35pm

averagebwynut, the way I can "substantiate" that 90% of the tickets were sold before the show opened is, I went to the box office the day the show was opening and there were VERY few dates that had good seats available, only balcony or "partial view." The prime orchestra seats were virtually sold out. There were literally scores of tickets, prime orchestra seats, available on Stubhub and through other scalping sites for any date the show was playing. If you had friends who bought decent seats at the box office later on in the run, then somebody turned them back in after being unable to sell them for way above face value.

[ifuweregay93]

Posted: 1/12/10 at 6:56pm

I love how innocent you tried to make your post, like we never listened to your opinion. Someone posted asking about the show and you posted a link to a youtube video of cats screaming and said HERE YOU GO! That's beyond "constructive criticism".

[darquegk]

Posted: 1/12/10 at 7:02pm

This could be a Broadway first- a show that would be better if it WERE adapted from the popular film associated with it.

Posted: 1/12/10 at 7:28pm

NOW you've seen the show P? But when? AFTER you've posted at least two dozen "criticisms" of it? And how? Did you visit my hometown and not say hi?

And Matt I agree with much of what you say- but "Full Disclosure" and "Second banana" both got HUGE ovations then night I saw it- I'd say "SB" (that's for YOU, p!) was probably the best-received number of the night. Whether it stinks or not you don't cut one of the most popular songs....

[raggballad2]

Posted: 1/12/10 at 7:47pm

Second Banana was also received very well both times I saw it with Bebe and even more so with Rachel. Full Disclosure, looking back now, seems messy. I really hope they don't cut "Waiting" for Carolee, but her solo is really MUCH stronger than any of the Addamses' material now.

[averagebwaynut]

Posted: 1/12/10 at 10:26pm

PGenre -- "vicious bile"? If that's not the pot calling the kettle black. You are the one who has used the most extreme and nasty language in critiquing this show and anyone who dares to like it.

Also, I return to one of my original questions: since the show has never been recorded or published, how is it that you were oh-so-familiar with both without having seen the show? Since that defies logic, I would think you would want to set the record straight if only to have even the slightest shred of credibility.

MisterMatt -- bravo for your review. I found even a little bit more to like in the show than you did, but your critiques are well-expressed and reasoned. Perhaps you can give Pgenre a few lessons.

Helene -- as I recall, the balcony at the Oriental seats at least 300 or so. So if they readily had seats available in the balcony (as well as partial view and the occasional better seats for certain dates), that in and of itself suggests that they had NOT sold 90% of the tickets in advance. If you meant that 90% of the seats that could reasonably be considered "good" had been sold in advance, that is another matter and I think I would agree with that. But it still demonstrates that they had a fair number of seats to sell AFTER the reviews came out in order to achieve the percentage capacity record reported by Variety.

JoeKV -- I actually wouldn't be surprised to see them cut "Second Banana" even with the ovation it received. To me, the ovation was more for Bebe than for the song or its staging. So many of the reviews suggest that they want to see Bebe dance more (though with her artificial hips, who knows if she can?) and the number is an integral part of a plot point that many have quibbled with. So I wouldn't be surprised to see it cut, or perhaps expanded and/or adapted to be more along the lines of what she expresses in the reprise about being second banana to her children (rather than second banana as a desired beauty).

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 1/13/10 at 10:50am

I agree with averagebwaynut about the audience response to Second Banana. To me, it seemed the audience was applauding Bebe's delivery of the song, which was great, but the song itself didn't make much sense. The majority of the song was about her insecurities with getting older (the biggest problem with the show since Morticia has always been the beacon of self-esteem and confidence, grounding the family), which is not the definition of being/playing "Second Banana". There was a futile effort to try and tie it into her children and Gomez, but it didn't add up. Get rid of that ridiculous plot and strengthen her relationship with Wednesday as a mother and role model and I think the book will be MUCH stronger. They can still keep in the tango lessons/jealousy stuff leading to the tango number and sword fight without using the current subplot, which seriously weakens Morticia's character. If they want to show Morticia's vulnerability, give her a second act ballad where she expresses her maternal feelings about Wednesday potentially leaving the nest and the possibility that her recent change in character could become something more permanent. If Morticia is going to display some sort of faltering confidence, it would probably be in the family structure rather than in her appearance.

And Full Disclosure did receive a hearty ovation when I saw it, but again, I think it was due to the performances and staging. The counter melodies in the "disclosure" moments were ok, but the base melody, which sounded more like a Mel Brooks number, didn't fit the mood or atmosphere, which was supposed to be a tense and awkwardly humorous scene of two worlds clashing and a party descending into chaos rather than a "Wacka-Wacka Ha -Cha-Cha!" moment. And the various melodies didn't seem to really fit together in any cohesive way. To me, it came off as a sort of trunk song patched in with a couple of new melodies thrown together last-minute. And there was no sense as to why the family plays this particular game. It basically rips off You Can't Take it With You, but without much sense of purpose other than to be a catalyst for the second act. If they took the route of You Can't Take it With You and used the game as a spontaneous ice-breaker to lighten the mood, rather than introducing the idea early with the only explanation being "We always play The Game!", it would make more sense and add a bit more tension. The way it is, they let the cat out of the bag halfway through the first act and we can predict exactly what will happen and how the act will end.

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 1/13/10 at 1:53pm

Frankly, with Jerry Zaks' creative output the way it is lately, what'll happen with Addams Family is anyone's guess. He came in to doctor The Capeman. Didn't go so well, did it?

Posted: 1/14/10 at 7:48pm

I can't stop thinking about poor Helene going to the show and being surprised she didn't like it and PGenre coming to Chicago and buying tickets for it (even though it was all but sold out months ago apparently) knowing full well he'd hate it.

So curious.