TheAddamsFamily
On my first day of work, my supervisor asked if I was interested in free tickets to a show that night. Duh. Had he not gotten the memo that I would work 40 hours a week with no salary and accept free tickets as my payment!?
I managed to not be too enthusiastic and replied that I would be grateful for tickets, and he went off to find me some. A short time later he came back with tickets to….The Addams Family. Now, I know that at this point he was a gift horse, and I did my damndest not to look him in the mouth, but I did feel a small sense of disappointment. I had absolutely no interest in seeing this show, having heard nothing but terrible things about it.
However, my mama raised me right, and, with the exception of candy from strangers and scabies from trickers, I don’t reject anything that’s free.
So I dragged my friend, Adam, along with me because my mama also taught me that misery loves company. And I have to admit, I was surprised. Surprised that the show has been running as long as it has. It’s so bad.
The plot is ridiculous, the music is forgettable, the costumes are lazy and the characters are just not the Addams’ we have come to know and love.
The story now revolves around a “grown up” Wednesday Addams who has fallen for a boy and intends to marry him. However Wednesday and Pugsley are basically the same age they’ve always been so how she sped through puberty straight to marrying age is never really clarified.
The acting, for the most part, was good for what they had to work with. I feel fortunate that Nathan Lane had departed the show before I had to sit through him playing straight, as I am not a huge fan of his anyway. I was lucky enough to see Tony winner Roger Reese as Gomez. Though Roger is not a musical theater actor, he was very charming and charismatic and, within the very tight confines of an unfunny script, funny.
I have long been a fan of Bebe Neuwirth, however watching her in this show was like watching Donald Trump affix his toupee. Tragic, yet boring. I was really hoping for a redemption, as the last time I saw her was several years ago when she went back into Chicago, playing Roxy (shutter), following hip replacement surgery. Now I normally loves me some Bebe, but she is not a Roxy type, and Fosse dumbed down for a healing hip-replacementist is just sad. So I was really hoping to fall in love with Bebe again. But you could tell that she had just given up and was just going through the motions.
The only other stand outs in the cast were the always hilarious, though poorly used, Jackie Hoffman as Grandma; Rachel Potter as Wednesday has a killer belt that gave me delicious chills, and Heidi Blickenstaff, the hilarious diva of [title of show] fame.
The highlight of the show, and the focus of my attention for those very long 2 hours, was the technical aspects. The set is really cool. First off is a very large beautiful red grand drape that I will, someday, use as window dressing in my apartment.
The set has two large stair units that split in half and move into many various positions to effectively create different levels and rooms of the house.
There is also a lot of puppetry in the show. Memorable appearances by Cousin Itt and an amorous curtain tassel, a rodent eating plant, a giant squid and a miniature Fester. But you can get on playbill.com and see video of how these were created and see them in action and not have to sit through the show.
As most of Lippa’s scores, in my humble opinion, the music was disjointed and forgettable. A few catch tunes or phrases within a tune, but really no overall tunes you would want to take to an audition or big 11 o’clock numbers.
Mainly you would be better served watching Addams Family movie or even, I shutter to say it, Addams Family Values.
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