ADDAMS FAMILY Reviews- Page 4

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 4/8/10 at 9:53pm

I feel like we have gone back years and im on the thread for Wicked, Addams Family folks, Addams Family.

[kidbroadway2]

Posted: 4/8/10 at 9:54pm

But the bottom line is that Wicked had CATCHY POP songs that any girl would love to repeat over and over.


Addams Family has no memorable songs and no powerhouse vocal performances. What are they going to sing at the Tony's? When You're an Addams again? That's the only thing I could see them doing.

[bethnor]

Posted: 4/8/10 at 9:56pm

Should Brantley's review be up by tonight?

the NYTimes review is always eleventh hour, for whatever reason.

[jacobsnchz14]

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

http://www.broadway.com/videos/tag/word-mouth/word-of-mouth-review-the-addams-family/

Broadway.com's Word Of Mouth review seems mixed to positive. Correct me if I'm wrong. This is probably not considered a "review-review" but it does discuss the opinions of the show.

[blaxx]

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

Theatermania is mixed

Despite the discouraging words about The Addams Family that circulated as it prepared for its Broadway run at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, this new musical adaptation of Charles Addams' gleefully contrary cartoons hasn't turned out to be a complete calamity -- although it comes perilously close to becoming one at times.

The prime rescuers of this somewhat misguided operation are its above-the-title stars: Nathan Lane works every one of his formidable performing tricks and frequently succeeds as Gomez, the dapper Addams patriarch, while Bebe Neuwirth, in long wig and cleavage-focused black gown, plays wife Morticia with sly conviction.

http://www.theatermania.com/broadway/reviews/04-2010/the-addams-family_26353.html

[broadwayman17]

Posted: 4/8/10 at 10:11pm

Entertainment Weekly: Positive (B)
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20359022,00.html
"Even before the start of the Addams Family musical on Broadway, when the overture riffs on the familiar theme to the 1960s sitcom (complete with audience-supplied finger snaps), you're primed for a good time. And then a disembodied hand (Thing!) pulls back the curtain and the catchy opening number, 'When You're an Addams,' raises your hopes higher, spryly reintroducing the death-fixated family in all its pale-faced glory. The look is perfect, from the lavish set to the monochromatic makeup and costumes. Could the whole show possibly deliver on that promise? Well, almost."

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

[lull89]

Posted: 4/8/10 at 10:11pm

B from Entertainment Weekly

"If you have a high tolerance for corn on the macabre, this is the show for you. Lane is the principal ham, milking every punchline in an accent that strays all over the European continent (Gomez is supposedly Spanish). But he also sings a genuinely touching song to his grown daughter, Wednesday (Krysta Rodriguez), who's gotten engaged to a seemingly square Ohio boy named Lucas (Wesley Taylor). It's in such quieter moments that the iconic characters on stage become more than mere shtick figures."
The Addams Family Reviewed by Thom Geier

[blaxx]

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

Brantley is very negative

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/09/theater/reviews/09addams.html?pagewanted=1&ref=theater

Imagine, if you dare, the agonies of the talented people trapped inside the collapsing tomb called “The Addams Family.” Being in this genuinely ghastly musical — which opened Thursday night at the Lunt-Fontanne Theater and stars a shamefully squandered Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth — must feel like going to a Halloween party in a strait-jacket or a suit of armor. Sure, you make a flashy (if obvious) first impression. But then you’re stuck in the darn thing for the rest of the night, and it’s really, really uncomfortable. Why, you can barely move, and a strangled voice inside you keeps gasping, “He-e-e-lp! Get me out of here!”

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 4/8/10 at 10:38pm

oh my.

[inlovewithjerryherman]

Posted: 4/8/10 at 10:38pm

not the bloodbath anticipated, but that's still a big ouchie.

good for the cast and designers for continuous praise - but what a shame. it should have worked, really.

ah, well. Memphis for best musical!

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 4/8/10 at 10:46pm

It is a blood bath
Apart from a few second rate positives the show has taken a beating tonight with only Lane coming out on top

Best new musical will go to American Idiot

[ifuweregay93]

Posted: 4/8/10 at 10:51pm

Crap!

Blaxx, I love how quick you were to start trashing this show!

[kidbroadway2]

Posted: 4/8/10 at 10:54pm

I was at least hoping for mixed. This is sad.

[angelxschunard]

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

"Addams Family has no memorable songs and no powerhouse vocal performances."

Wait, so...what was Krysta Rodriguez doing during "Pulled" then? Knitting?

[blaxx]

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

Blaxx, I love how quick you were to start trashing this show!

As far as I'm concerned, there isn't a single personal opinion from my part in the entire thread. I just put up the reviews.

[PiraguaGuy2]

Posted: 4/8/10 at 11:00pm

Hopefully this show's evisceration by the critics will lead to the downfall of the "franchise" musical - you know, a musical that is seen purely as an extension of the franchise, and built from the top down and not the ground up (as in, they came up with first the idea of musicalizing the franchise, then thought of actors, so that they could make a pitch before a writer was even HIRED).

[blaxx]

Posted: 4/8/10 at 11:01pm

That said, however, I wish they could have put this in the show:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWJiPUWoB4k

[blaxx]

Posted: 4/8/10 at 11:03pm

Hopefully this show's evisceration by the critics will lead to the downfall of the "franchise" musical - you know, a musical that is seen purely as an extension of the franchise, and built from the top down and not the ground up (as in, they came up with first the idea of musicalizing the franchise, then thought of actors, so that they could make a pitch before a writer was even HIRED).

Thank you. Franchises on Broadway tend to be disgusting - I'm glad that at least critics don't fall for any of it.

[Mildred Plotka]

Posted: 4/8/10 at 11:05pm

That Brantley review was genius.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 4/8/10 at 11:05pm

These reviews are pretty hilarious.

[songanddanceman2]

Posted: 4/8/10 at 11:08pm

I have to stick up for blaxx here, all Blaxx did was post reviews, no personal opinions

[evic]

Posted: 4/8/10 at 11:13pm

Jerry Zaks to the rescue!!!!!!...Maybe they will retool the show and send it over to London- we get retooled Love Never Dies.... just like an Actor's Equity exchange....will serve em right for shipping us more ALW crap!!!!!

[allofmylife]

Posted: 4/8/10 at 11:14pm

But this show should have worked. However, they made ghastly choices from square one. The Addams Family IS a good franchise. You don't bring in the guy who wrote, well, come to think of it, what the hell HAS he written? What happened to the apprentice system in the composing arts? You can't just walk in and design a Broadway show. You have to find a way into the Guild and then work for dogs years as an assistant.

Hell, they wouldn't let Stephen Sondheim write the music for Gypsy. As Louis B Mayer said to Arthur Freed, a very successful composer who wanted to produce a movie,"You have to learn to crawl before you can walk."

Imagine what Marc Shaimen could have done with these characters.

And then there are the two directors who, wait, what big-budget Broadway shows have they done? (Cue: crickets chirping.)

Oh wait, I'm not done. Because when you think of the perversity of Charles Addam's humor, the first name you think of as book writer is Marshall Brickman, who wrote....... uh, Jersey Boys? Well, he did write "Annie Hall" and "Manhattan" and Woody Allen is kinda ookie and spookie, so maybe there is a connection.

I just think this was a misbegotten, ill-conceived project that could, shouda and woulda been a contender in the right hands.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 4/8/10 at 11:17pm

The problem (besides a wretched score) is that these characters SHOULD NOT BE SINGING! The Addams Family has no business singing except for maaaaybe Gomez and even then only under a very few circumstances. These characters could work very well in a play but a musical was never a good idea.

[BroadwayBound115]

Posted: 4/8/10 at 11:17pm

I wouldn't say very negative, but it definitely was negative. Maybe I am just way too nice!!