Background feature - "The Addams Family" Broadway production

8/17/2019 Background feature - "The Addams Family" Broadway production

1/4

trTeursdag

I

SUNDAY,

ApRtL

4,2O1O

ffi

w;


2/4

o

b

I.OVECE

to

Newsdcy

s Wednesday

Addams

warns

her

beau

in the

Broadway musi-

cal

"The

Add-

ams

Family,"

opening Thurs-

day at the Lunt-

Theatre,

"Don't

analyze

It's

a deep, dark

hole, and

you

wanna

go

there."

And

yet

through 50

years

of

Yorker

cartoons,

two live-

TV

series,

two animated

two theatrical

features,

a

and

now

we

do

wanna

go

there. We

to visit that family of

ghoul-

glee,

whotip steaming

liquid

the top of their Gothic

man-

over Christmas carolers

urge vehicles

on

a

road

to

pass

their

car

as

unseen

tractor-trailer

rounds

curve. Patriarch

Gomez

Add-

lights up with

happiness

-

-

as

he

sees

his corpse-

bride, Morticia,

sewing little

booties

.

. . with

four

legs.

It's not that we

secretly wish to

homicidal, or to

have

six-

Hopefully. We're

responding.to

the

Bizarro

image

in which

light

and bad is

good.

The

juxtaposition

throws

into

relief the sayings

and conven-

of

everyday

life,

the

irony

us

to the

banality

of

words

-

md, by extension,

lives.

But there's something

else.

In

their incarnations, the

Addams-

are

a loving, well-functioning

-

the Brady

gone

Goth. And

as Andrew

the new

musical's compos-

notes about the caroler car-

one of Charles

Addams'

the steaming vat

"is

tipped, but there's

not

a

drop of

it emerging

yet.

So

only

the

suggestion

of

some-

happening

-

nothing mali-

actually

happens. I think

a

really

important

point.

It

stop being

funny if they

tipped

the vat."

So,

we won't tip the vat.

But we

our hat

to these four

,of

the family

.Addarss:

.

IN

PRINT

T}IE ]{EW YORKER

cARTOOT{S

Charles

Addams began illus-

trating

for

the magazine

n1932,

and six

years

later drew

the

fust

cartoon of what would

become

the macabre

clan

-

a

pale,

beau-

tiful,

black-haired

woman

in a

tomblike, cobweb-filled

old

mansion,

listening deadpan

(so

to speak) as

a vacuum-cleaner

salesman

gives

his spiel. Soon

she was

joined

by

a husband, two

kids, a

grandma,

an

uncle

and a

towering butler

-

all unnamed

until

the

1964

TV

show.

Addams,

whose

"Addams

Family" cartoons

make up

only a

small

portion

of his output,

con-

tinued drawing

for

The New

Yorker until

his death

in

Manhat-

tan

in

1988,

atage76.

Not the same

old

Thing: "The Addams Family"

musical

opens Thursday

at the Lunt-Fontanne

with Adam

Riegler,

left, Jackie Hoffman,

Krysta

Rodriguez,

Nathan

Lane,

Bebe Neuwirth,

Zachary

James

and Kevin

Chamberlin


3/4

il

TV

ADDAMS FAMITY'

(ABC,

1964-66)

of

Addamsania,

starting

with composer Vic Mizzy's

theme

(snap

snap ).

It's the

where the Addamses

got

their names:

(played

by

]ohn

Astin,

whom

Charles

gave

a

choice between

that or

the

name

Repelli); Morticia

(1950s

film

star

Oscar nominee Carolyn

Iones);

Uncle

child star

|ackie

Coogan,

played

the titular role in Charlie

Chap-

l92l

classic

"The

Kid"); Grandmama

Rock, older sister of musical

star and

Pugsley

(Lisa

Loring

and Ken Weather-

wax; Addams'frst

suggestion for the

boy was

Pubert, which surfaced

as

the

baby's name in

the i993

movie "Addams Family

Values").

The

series also

gave

us the

disembodied

hand

called

Thing and Cousin Itt, a short,

shaggy

creature

that looks like a

walking,

4-foot-tall wig.

Each has a cameo

in the new

musical,

which opens with

a

passage

from

the famous

theme.

r

ffi,n

ON-SCREEN

ITHE

ADDAMS

FAMILY'

(1991)

and

'ADDAMS

FAMttY

VALUES'(1993)

Barry Sonnenfeld

("Men

in

Black")

directed

these two

darklycomic hit movies that

were more inspired by the

original cartoons

than

by the

'60s

sitcorn

Raul

Julia

and

Anjeli-

ca

Huston

starred

as

Gomez and

Morticia, with

child

actress

Christina Ricci enjoying

a break-

out role

as the

dour Wednesday.

(Asked

at a

Halloween

event

in

the sequel

why

she

isn't

wearing

a

costume,

she

gives

an

eerily

straightforward reply

"I'm

a

homicidal m

looklike

an;

WorkmarL

acting,

play

Christophe

Carel Struy

giant

from

played

Lurc

was

fudith

movieandC

second.

Nathan

L

Gomez on

as

a

police

"Addams F

of many sta

ln

cameos.

tr*4i

z

q

C

t

o

I

th

ne

Huston and

Thing enjoy

a

John Astin as Gomez, Carolyn Jones

as

Morticia

ON

BROADWAY

,THE

ADDAMS FAMILY'

(Broadway

musical)

Ifbackstage reports are to

be

believed, the

joyfully

maca-

bre

goings-on

onstage in the

new

show starring

Lane and

Bebe

Neuwirth mask the bub-

ble, bubble,

toil

and

trouble

behind it. During out-of-town

tryouts

at the Oriental Theatre

in

Chicago

late

last

year,

the

acclaimed

lerry

Zaks

took over

as

director from

Broadway

newcomers Phelim McDer-

mott

and

Julian

Crouch, who

were relegated to

providing

"input." And word kept leaking

out of

Neuwirth's frostiness

toward co-star

Lane,

and

dissat-

isfaction

with her

role

as

it

was

developing.

The

two

made nice in an

interview with

New

York

Magazine,

where

Neuwirth

conceded the two "both

have

a

nice, healthy

dosg

of diva," but

that "we also

do

really

go

together. You've

got

the

little

clown running around, and

you

have

a

son.

That's

Lane is

a

clown"

in

t

concerns

a

day

(Krysta

with a boy

and

bringin

rence Man

lo)

to meet

Fester

(a

sh

Chamberlin

equally

sho

Hoffman),

Riegler)

an

|ames)

-

t

siastic

patr

chaos at

ba


4/4

ON-SCREEN

,THE

ADDAMS

FATILY'

(199'l)

and'ADDAilS

FAiilLY

VALUES',

CI993)

Barry

Sonnenfeld

("Men

in

BlacIC')

directed

these

two

darklycomic

hit movies

that

were

more

inspired by

the

original

cartoons

than by

the

'60s

sitcorn

Raul

fulia

and

Anjeli-

caHuston starred

as Gomez

and

Morticia with

child

actress

Christina

Ricci

enjoying

a

break-

out

role as

the

dour Wednesday.

(Asked

at

a Halloween

event

in

the

sequelwhy

she

isn'twearing

a

costume,

she

gives

an

eerily

straightforward

rep\t

"I'm

a

fl

.r

,:

..0

I

'?.

(

I

-':.

i4

l-

.. .i

l-r

\

;....,-

and Thing enjoy a

Nathan

Lane;

who

PlaYs

Gomez

on

Broadway,

apPeared

as a

police

desk

sergeant

in

"Addams

Family

Values,"

one

of many

stars

who

poPPed

uP

in

cameos.

homicidal

maniac.

They

can

look like

anybody.")

|immy

Worlanan,

who

discontinued

acting,

played

her

brother.

Christopher

Lloyd

was

Fester,

Carel

Struycken

(the

mysterious

giant

from

"TwinPeaks")

played

Lurch,

and

Grandmama

was

fudith

Malina

in

the

first

movie

and

Carol

Kane

in

the

second.

ON

BROADWAY

,THEADDAIIS

FATIIY'

(Broadway

musical)

Ifbackstage

reports

are

to

be

believed,

the

joyfirlly

maca-

bre

goings-on

onstage

in the

newshow

starring

Lane and

Bebe

Neuwirth

mask

the bub-

ble,

bubble,

toil

and

trouble

behind

it.

Ouring

out-of-town

tryouts

at

the Oriental

Theatre

in Chicago

late

last

year,

the

acclaimed

lerry

Zaks

took

over

as

diiector

from

Broadway

newcomers

Phelim

McDer-

mott

and

fulian

Crouch,

who

were

relegated

to

providing

"input."

And

word

kePt

leaking

out

of Neuwirth's

frostiness

toward

co-star

Lane,

and

dissat-

isfaction

with

her

role

as it

was

developing.

The two

made

nice

in

an

interview

with

New

York

Magazine,

where

Neuwirth

conceded the

two

"both

have

a

nice,

healthy

dosg

ofdiva,"

but

that

"we also

do

really

go

together.

You've

got

the

little

clown

running

around,

and

you

have

a very

still,

dry

Per-

son.

That's

a

fun

pairing."

Lane is

actually

less

"a

little

' -

clown"

in the

show

-

which

concerns

a

grown-up Wednes-

day

(Krysta

Rodriguez)

in

love

with

a

boy

(Wesley

Taylor)

and

bringing

his

parents

(Ter-

rence

Mann,

Carolee

Carmel-

lo) to

meet

her

parents,

Uncle

Fester

(a

show-stealing

Kevin

Chamberlin),

Grandmama

(an

equally

show-stealing

|ackie

Hoffman),

Pugsley

(Adam

Riegler)

and

Lurch

(ZachatY

|ames)

-

than

he is the

enthu-

siastic

patriarch who

keePs

chaos

at

bay.

PHOTOS

Check

out

our

galleries

of

the

hottest

shows

.--gn_Flgadry"y

.

--

.

, H@l,com

/theater

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Background feature - "The Addams Family" Broadway production