Andrew Lippa Shares Some Songs From The Addams Family

[ifuweregay93]

Posted: 4/3/10 at 1:00pm

http://www.broadway.com/videos/show/the-addams-family/video-exclusive-andrew-lippa-shares-songs-from-the-addams-family/

Interesting to hear these songs. I know the first two weren't in the Chicago production, so it's kind of cool to hear them!

[ljay889]

Posted: 4/3/10 at 1:02pm

The overture didn't start like that in Chicago?

Also when did Krysta Rodriquez's Wednesday have the braids?

[Mildred Plotka]

Posted: 4/3/10 at 1:10pm

I slogged my way through that video. I found it hilarious how he's secribing all these different styles for each character and then, at least to my ears, EVERY SONG SOUNDED THE SAME.

Seeing it at the end of the month. Hope it's in better shape.

Updated On: 4/3/10 at 01:10 PM

[ifuweregay93]

Posted: 4/3/10 at 1:13pm

The overture started with a "Theme Song" like piece, but not like how it does in NY, apparently. The "Theme Song" was in "One Normal Night." But the first part was actually in Chicago, come to think of it.

For her braids, they had them cut off of her by Grandmama in the original opening "Clandango!" during her "Coming Of Age" ceremony. Not sure how they do it now.

[broadway122]

Posted: 4/3/10 at 1:14pm

@ ljay889: she has braids at the beginning but then they get cut off during the ceremony at the start of the show.

[dshnookie]

Posted: 4/3/10 at 3:49pm

The songs don't sound too bad, but I don't have too high expectations for family fare.

However, I'm not crazy about all those "la la la la's" in Uncle Fester's "Moon"song.

[lakezurich]

Posted: 4/3/10 at 3:59pm

I never did understand the "moon song." Visually it was a lot of fun to watch. But, I found it extremely boring. And it seemed like it came out of nowhere.

[jv92]

Posted: 4/3/10 at 4:34pm

It actually didn't sound all that bad. I enjoyed it. It doesn't make me want to rush to buy tickets, but maybe I'll buy the album.

[Mildred Plotka]

Posted: 4/3/10 at 4:47pm

On a purely superficial note: Andrew Lippa is an odd little man, isn't he?

[B3TA07]

Posted: 4/3/10 at 7:13pm

Could any of this music be more painfully predictable?

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 4/3/10 at 7:27pm

I generally enjoy Lippa's work, but does anyone else think "When You're An Addams" sounds a whole hell of a lot like "Raise The Roof" from his WILD PARTY?

Updated On: 4/3/10 at 07:27 PM

[bundy5000]

Posted: 4/3/10 at 7:37pm

I still have high hopes for the show, but I agree the music isn't anything new or breakthrough. The uncle fester song is so random i don't think Einstein could link THE MOON to the show, or to Lippa. I would happily pay extra money if the producers could listen in to mine and others suggestions. Give Carolee more numbers, give BeBe her fair share, Jackie needs her own LMFAO number, The addams ancestor chorus is overused. I am giving up in terms of TONY noms this show should get, but just for reviews sake, make serious changes in the show even after it opens!!!!!!!!!

[darquegk]

Posted: 4/3/10 at 7:42pm

As of last Sunday, the show was officially frozen.

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 4/3/10 at 7:45pm

Wasn't Carolee Carmello's only solo number cut from the show?

[ljay889]

Posted: 4/3/10 at 8:09pm

I saw the show about two weeks ago and Carmello had her big number "Waiting" at the end of act 1.

Was that cut??

[actionjaxson91]

Posted: 4/3/10 at 8:19pm

"Whatever's funny, stays."

Ok Lippa, completely disregard whether or not the music is good.

Seriously, what happened to him? The Wild Party was so good!

[ljay889]

Posted: 4/3/10 at 8:21pm

His Wild Party is fine, but it's just one pop song after another. Completely inappropriate for the period the piece is set in.

Addams is the same thing. Pop song after pop song.

[actionjaxson91]

Posted: 4/3/10 at 8:29pm

Also, this may just be my personal opinion, but WHO THE **** THOUGHT IT WAS A GOOD IDEA TO WRITE IN THE BOOK THAT UNCLE FESTER WAS IN LOVE WITH THE MOON? I mean, the Addams are weird, but that's just beyond the spectrum to a place that's not even funny.

[Mildred Plotka]

Posted: 4/3/10 at 9:45pm

He also needs to do that research on Vaudeville. Uncle Fester's song is hardly Vaudeville. It's the same pop fare Lippa writes.

I also think it's a trap to confine each character to a musical style. Especially when you can't write more than one style of music.

Hopefully the performances make this a bearable evening for me.

I wish they would have just gotten the rights to the plot from the first movie. At this point I'd even settle for Paul Rudnick's treatment for the sequel.

I can't help but wonder what Nell Benjamin and Laurence O'Keefe would have done.

[PiraguaGuy2]

Posted: 4/3/10 at 9:51pm

Anyone else have the inexplicable urge to punch him in the face?

[Mildred Plotka]

Posted: 4/3/10 at 9:52pm

I think someone already did from the looks of it.

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 4/3/10 at 9:53pm

Nell Benjamin and Laurence O'Keefe would have been far more interesting choices for the project than Lippa.

In fact, I couldn't stop thinking about how the source material is so much better suited to a darker sense of humor along the lines of BAT BOY than the commercial treatment it ended up getting in this incarnation.

What might have been...

[PiraguaGuy2]

Posted: 4/3/10 at 10:04pm

I understand the whole thing a bit now, having read the LA Times article to be published tomorrow.

Oken (lead producer) thought he would make the musical commercial, but also edgy and experimental. Benjamin and O'Keefe would have been the obvious choice, but going with the uncommercial Lippa and unconventional McDermott and Crouch would lend the production some street cred. Unfortunately, what Oken found is that...
a) Old-fashioned musical comedy legends like Lane and Neuwirth don't mesh well with weirdo directors and methods.
b) Sometimes it's just easier to give the people what they want (a musical based on the movies or TV show).
But the ultimate problem seems to lie with distrust of the source material. The Addamses should be hilarious and be themselves, and so it's unnecessary not just to incorporate experimental theatre tactics, but also to incorporate a whole OTHER "normal" family into the main plot. I could understand if they were a contrast, the Addamses' sounding board, if you will, but they end up getting more stage time than Gomez and Morticia. The people brought on board needed to have more respect and trust for the source material, not trying to embellish it.

But this is all moot. This show could open as Nathan Lane taking a dump on Charles Addams' ashes for 3 hours and it would still sell out every week, just as it does now.

[inlovewithjerryherman]

Posted: 4/3/10 at 10:08pm

i certainly hope that "Waiting" is not cut, because the only reason i was going to buy the inevitable cast recording was to hear Carmello belt her tits off.

[angelxschunard]

Posted: 4/3/10 at 10:14pm

I thought the whole interview was extremely interesting. I love Lippa so much.

And if you're pulling out the argument that Wild Party wasn't authentic, then you obviously don't know much about the point of the show.