ADDAMS FAMILY Reviews

Today is Thursday, April 8, marking the official opening of THE ADDAMS FAMILY - inspired by the legendary illustrations from Charles Addams in The New Yorker - at the Lunt-Fontanne on 46th. Previews began March 8. The tuner has a book by Rick Elice and Marshall Brickman, and music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa.

Two-time Tony Award winners, Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth star as Gomez and Morticia. The pairing is joined onstage by daughter Wednesday(Krysta Rodriguez); son Pugsley (Adam Riegler); Grandma (played by Jackie Hoffman); Lurch (Zachary James); and Uncle Fester (Kevin Chamberlin).

According to production notes, "In this original story, the famously macabre Addams Family is put to the test when outsiders come to dinner, hurling Gomez, Morticia, Wednesday, Pugsley, Fester, Grandmama and Lurch headlong into a night that will change the family forever."

Best to all involved.

Updated On: 4/8/10 at 01:08 PM

I thought I beat you to the punch this time, LimelightMike?



"THE ADDAMS FAMILY" Reviews

Proofread much, Wall Street Journal?

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Maybe they're paid per comma, blaxx.

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Has there been any word on what the advance sale for this show is? That could be the only thing to keep it going.

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I can't wait to read their book on the history of the Halloween musical. Ugh.

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So far its doing better than I expected (NOT getting slammed), but the only one that really matters in the NYT. If it gets mixed instead of getting slammed, it'l last till the summer at least.

I think a mixed review from the Times would have this show running for ages. There really isn't a ton of competition for kid friendly shows out there right now, especially since The Lion King and Marry Poppins have run forever.

I will say this: all the negative word of mouth has had me avoid this completely, but now that I know Basil Twist created puppetry for an Uncle Fester number, I might have to try it out anyway.Well, that and the fact that I feel sure Jackie Hoffman can make even the worst jokes still funny.

Variety is negative except for Lane, and other cast members.

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117942554.html?categoryid=33&cs=1

"The Addams Family" -- the 1960s sitcom, that is -- was famously kooky, spooky and altogether ooky. The new Broadway musical, based not on the sitcom but on assorted one-panel cartoons drawn over the years by the New Yorker's Charles Addams, is kooky but not spooky or ooky; nor is it neat, sweet or petite (as the song goes). What this "Addams Family" has is the gloweringly perfect Nathan Lane, who gamely thrusts Gomez's rapier at anything -- or any joke -- that moves. But $16.5 million has brought forth an ill-formed one-dimensional cartoon with lines and shading not quite inked in.

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Updated On: 4/8/10 at 07:11 PM

Hollywwod Reporter is negative (so far most just seem to feel bad for the two leads):

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/film-reviews/the-addams-family-theater-review-1004081703.story

Bottom Line: Even the talents of Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth can't make this musical adaptation of the familiar property more than just ho-hum.
As with so many high-concept Broadway shows these days, one gets the feeling from "The Addams Family" that artistic inspiration pretty much ended with the pitch meeting. It's as if once Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth as Gomez and Morticia Adams were on the table, all of the creatives felt they could take it easy.

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"But it's a bad idea to have Fester wonder at intermission if the audience will "leave in an hour feeling vaguely depressed," and a worse one to start the show with 15 seconds' worth of that finger-snap theme from the sitcom, which turns out to be the evening's catchiest musical moment."

HA!

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Backstage is negative

http://www.backstage.com/bso/reviews-ny-theatre-broadway/ny-review-the-addams-family-1004081735.story

"The Addams Family" is a musical all dressed up with no place to go. There's one simple reason: Nobody knew why they were writing it. There is no animating purpose to the evening, except to throw well-known characters on stage so the audience can luxuriate in their comforting familiarity. Charles Addams' iconic cartoon creations have been robbed of all subversiveness, something even the 1960s TV series—made in a considerably more socially conservative era—didn't do. The thin wisp of plot—daughter Wednesday wants to marry a "normal" boy from Ohio—in Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice's choppy book serves mostly to muddy the comic strip's iconography, and their inclusion of a subplot involving Morticia's fears of aging only compounds the problem. They've also come up with one of the flimsiest excuses for a chorus since Captain Jim romanced Rose Marie in the heyday of operetta.

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Updated On: 4/8/10 at 07:29 PM

If this ain't a bloodbath, it's pretty close.

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