ADDAMS FAMILY Reviews- Page 2

[Mildred Plotka]

Posted: 4/8/10 at 7:36pm

I hope Isherwood isn't reviewing. He's been hitting the crack pipe pretty hard lately before going to the theatre.

[blaxx]

Posted: 4/8/10 at 7:39pm

Beloved Matthew is mixed-to-negative

http://www.talkinbroadway.com/world/index.html

The musical, however, is all goof and no Goth. This results in a basically enjoyable night out - at least in the limited way of self-adoringly shallow, joke-a-minute, self-referential titles like The Producers and Urinetown - but hardly a great one. Lippa’s score is his most tuneful and likeable ever, but it wears its chintziness on its sleeve. How could it not? Brickman and Elice, who also collaborated on the passable book for the hit jukebox musical Jersey Boys, have sketched out a plot of uncompromising thinness that gets the gags it craves but almost nothing else along the way.

[Brick]

Posted: 4/8/10 at 7:47pm

Oh, Mildred.... I loved that.

[inlovewithjerryherman]

Posted: 4/8/10 at 7:50pm

i hate Matthew Murray, but his quote at the end, how big musicals these days "dissect, rather than connect" is one of the most spot-on things from any critic I've heard in a while.

[Trish2]

Posted: 4/8/10 at 7:52pm

I love this paragraph from the VARIETY review:

Serge Trujillo's choreography is emblematic of the ineffective choices: The ensemble consists of a clump of Addams ancestors, pulled from a graveyard crypt. One might suspect these folks to have three heads or five eyes, but no; they are standard British-manorhouse ghosts in Miss Havisham rags -- slim, trim, and straight from the gym (leading one to wonder how they degenerated into the fireplug-shaped Gomez and Fester). Once out of the crypt, they spend the evening adding ghostly, mirthless and unnecessary accents to ineffective production numbers.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 4/8/10 at 7:57pm

How long before it goes to TDF & TKTS?

Any guesses.

[inlovewithjerryherman]

Posted: 4/8/10 at 8:00pm

Long. Who reads reviews anyway? Critical reception to Wicked wasn't too hot either.

[kidbroadway2]

Posted: 4/8/10 at 8:01pm

Ugh. Some of these are pretty bad.

[blaxx]

Posted: 4/8/10 at 8:02pm

Why do the Wicked reviews have to come up every time a show gets trashed?

Wicked got mixed reviews, no more and no less. And most reviews raved about one lead or the other.

Those notes make Wicked reviews look like love letters.

[blaxx]

Posted: 4/8/10 at 8:04pm

Who reads reviews anyway?

Just a single pan from the NY Times pretty much guarantees a show to flop, want to guess how many people read reviews?

[inlovewithjerryherman]

Posted: 4/8/10 at 8:06pm

I don't deny that, Blaxx, I'm just saying - if a show that's already been grossing over a million a week throughout all of previews, to people/tourists who don't go to and/or don't read about the theatre, "The Addams Family" will be all they want and need - and a million dollars worth of fairly positive word of mouth per week is enough to keep any show afloat with families for a while.

And unlike previous "family" shows that were massacred ("Tarzan, Little Mermaid"), this show isn't a train-wreck of theatrical design that will alienate family audiences familiar with the source material.

My bets are this will stay off of TDF until Lane and Neuwirth peace out.
Updated On: 4/8/10 at 08:06 PM

[hannah_bway]

Posted: 4/8/10 at 8:07pm

Yeah, BUT, casual tourists from out of town (ie, much of my family when they come into town, who are completely clueless about Broadway in general) don't read reviews. They'll see "Nathan Lane" or "Bebe Neuwirth" and they'll go without ever looking at a single review. I think it'll do fairly well in the summer months.

[B3TA07]

Posted: 4/8/10 at 8:07pm

"Move over, Wicked, there’s a new Halloween musical in town, and, unlike its predecessor, it is safe not just for 13-year-old girls but for 13-year-old boys."

What crackhead thinks 13-year-old boys will ever ask for tickets to a Broadway musical for their birthday?

(Gays aside)

[blaxx]

Posted: 4/8/10 at 8:08pm

Newsroom Jersey is mixed-to-positive

http://www.newjerseynewsroom.com/movies/addams-family-musical-succeeds-as-a-crowd-pleaser

The results are an expert, energetic attraction that could be far sharper in terms of composition, but likely to satisfy anyone who loves the Addams, appreciates terrific performances and really wants to have more of a comfortable than a brilliant Broadway experience.

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

[hannah_bway]

Posted: 4/8/10 at 8:09pm

What crackhead thinks 13-year-old boys will ever ask for tickets to a Broadway musical for their birthday?

Right? If any 13-year-old boy is going to ask to see a Broadway show, then they wouldn't be afraid to ask to see Wicked, either. Poor logic there, haha.

[inlovewithjerryherman]

Posted: 4/8/10 at 8:09pm

and just to clarify: "train wreck of theatrical design" refers to the designer's work on the show.

[kidbroadway2]

Posted: 4/8/10 at 8:10pm

Till Nathan Lane leaves this show will be fine.

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 4/8/10 at 8:14pm

"Just a single pan from the NY Times pretty much guarantees a show to flop, want to guess how many people read reviews?"

I dont think the NY Times is that powerful anymore, if they have panned it the chances are so have the rest of the press and the audience. Also many many shows nowadays are very much critic proof.

[lizliz]

Posted: 4/8/10 at 8:23pm

The Little Mermaid managed to run for over a year and a half after being absolutely blasted by The New York Times.

I've been surprised to see how many people I know who don't have much of an interest in Broadway theatre want to see this because of the name recognition of the Addams brand, and because of Nathan Lane as Gomez.

[inlovewithjerryherman]

Posted: 4/8/10 at 8:26pm

come on, Brantley!

[blaxx]

Posted: 4/8/10 at 8:29pm

The Little Mermaid managed to run for over a year and a half after being absolutely blasted by The New York Times.

Love, that show lost all its investment and more.

And I don't remember any recent show getting panned by Brantley turning a profit.

[bjh2114]

Posted: 4/8/10 at 8:29pm

The Little Mermaid managed to run for over a year and a half after being absolutely blasted by The New York Times.

1) It was Disney. Disney shows are critic-proof for about a year as it is because they are tourist attractions and things to do with kids.

2) A year and a half isn't really that long of a run for a big-scale (haha, pun not intended) musical.

[blaxx]

Posted: 4/8/10 at 8:34pm

Mermaid was a huge disaster in all aspects. For the value of the franchise, it could have run as long as Beauty and the Beast.

A year and a half and it turned to be the biggest flop for Disney on Broadway.

[hannah_bway]

Posted: 4/8/10 at 8:35pm

The feeling I got was that the show isn't trying to be (extremely) good, it's not even trying to attract regular theatergoers, it's trying to attract tourists.
Updated On: 4/8/10 at 08:35 PM

[lizliz]

Posted: 4/8/10 at 8:41pm

bjh2114 and blaxx, of course I understand that Mermaid wasn't a commercial success. But people are acting as though Addams going to close within the next couple of months if the reviews are bad, and I was just trying to point out that was a little alarmist.