[MILD SPOILERS AHEAD]
Been trying to find the time to write this up all week and only now just getting to it.
After the flurry of conversation last week, felt compelled to post some informed opinion now that I've actually seen the show. Apologies, in advance, for the length.
In short, I think the Variety review hits the nail on the head. That is, Hedy Weiss' review is just too over the top. Even the producers and creative team themselves have admitted that the show is not without flaws and needs some work done. At the same time, I think Chris Jones' review is a little too negative. Or perhaps "revisionist" is a better word -- I have no way of knowing this, but I get the sense that the show Chris wants them to stage (more jokey, more "classic" Addams) is not the show they want to create (more heart, more emotion) so they will perhaps never see to eye to eye on that. But Variety may have summed up my reaction best in saying:
"The show is theatrical comfort food, providing value for the consumer dollar. Slickly and grandly designed, completely accessible, consistently amusing and in its own way a genuine tribute to old-fashioned Broadway musical entertainment, this tuner loves the use of a spotlight, shining it generously on gifted stars Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth."
That said, at the risk of oversimplifying, I'll hand out a few grades:
Cast: A+
There really isn't a weak link here. Bebe will never be a gifted vocalist no matter what song they write for her, but she's practically perfect in every other way. Nathan is fantastic, as expected, and gets to show a little heart along with his usual impishness. Kevin Chamberlin is the perfect mix of adorable and sinister. Jackie Hoffman is a hoot. Carolee Carmello has a voice that never fails to amaze and how wonderful to see Terrence Mann back on stage in such fine form...and so on and so on...
Physical Production: A-
The show looks magnificent. Some incredibly striking and truly beautiful imagery. If there's a quibble, it's primarily that the movement of the set relies to heavily on the ancestors/chorus (more on that below). At times, it's effective to see people move the set. But at other times, you want a little more theatrical "magic" without seeing how it is achieved. The trees of Central Park in Act I at the Beinekes entrance are perhaps the most egregious example of this.
Score: B+
It's a varied and appealing score and I think Lippa's attempt to have the musical styles be character-driven is successful. "Happy/Sad" is a gorgeously simple and genuinely tear-inducing song. "Move Toward the Darkness" does a wonderful job adding an Addams-esque sensibility to a closing ballad. "Let's Not Talk About Anything Else But Love" is a catchy ditty. And "Passionate and True" is "Fiddler on the Roof" by way of Rio de Janeiro. However, because the score goes out of its way to be so varied, there isn't a cohesive "feel" to the evening, a musical "through-line" of sorts that ties it all together and as such the whole is not as great as the sum of its parts.
Book: B
The kernel of a solid idea is there but as many reviews have noted, the current story is trying to do too much for too many people. Individual storylines are established for Gomez and Morticia, Wednesday and Lucas, Mal and Alice, Fester, and Pugsley, and all 5 have to be wrapped up by evening's end. That's too much and it takes too long. Indeed, the story with which we open the show -- Wednesday and Lucas -- is resolved pretty quickly into Act II and yet we still have 30-40 minutes left in the show. I agree with those who have said that the audience cares most about Gomez and Morticia so that's where the focus should be and the other stories need to take a backseat to the two of them. And somehow, they DO need to move away from "ageing" as being the source of Morticia's concern -- that just doesn't fit the character.
Direction: B
With the exception of the utterly gorgeous "Moon and Me" -- almost worth the price of admission on its own -- there is nothing particularly ingenious about the staging that would earn it a better score, but more notably, it's in the use of the ancestors that the directors make their biggest misstep. On a few, rare, occasions, their presence seems apropos. But more often than not, you wonder why the heck they are on stage. Dramaturgically, it doesn't make real sense. And theatrically, they are just a distraction most of the time.
Choreography: B-
The show doesn't have a lot of opportunities to truly "dance" but when it does -- "Clandango", "Let's Not Talk About Anything Else But Love", "Second Banana" -- the work is just OK. It's not sexy or humorous or dramatic or even terribly polished. It's fine -- not bad per se, but by no means great. The climactic tango almost works, but it feels a bit too long and the swordfighting isn't complex and interesting enough to warrant its current length.
Overall: B+
I think a true average of the above grades would put the current version of the show somewhere between a B and a B+. I shade towards the B+ because overall, even with its flaws, it's still very much a fully entertaining night of theatre. I, for one, am encouraged that the people behind it recognize that there is work to be done and I look forward to seeing if indeed they can pull it off come next April -- a rising tide raises all ships and Broadway, as an industry, could use a new, legitimate blockbuster musical hit.
"No matter how much you want the part, never let 'em see you sweat." -- Old Dry Idea commercial
