The Addams Family - First Broadway Preview Night!!

I know it's customary to wait until a show has opened before reviewing it. Luckily I am anything but customary!!

Kevin has been so excited to see this show, ever since he heard it was coming to Broadway. It was certainly something we would be seeing sooner or later, but one day as I was reading the Grey Lady, an advert popped up for The Addams Family and announced that previews would begin on March 8th. Wait. Today is March 8th!! Certainly there couldn't be any tickets left...
There were! And I snagged two of them.

First of all, the advance word from the show's out of town try out in Chicago was just miserable. So much so, that almost all the news of the show was about how it was being completely re-worked. Would we be seeing a show that had risen from the ashes of failure, or the next phenomenal flop along the lines of Carrie: the Musical? The show lies somewhere in between.

The audience certainly was eager. Some came dressed as their favorite Douglas Addams character, some just in gothic garb.

And as the curtain rose, it was apparent that the design of the show was spot on. The first image is a family portrait of the Addams Family in the family cemetery, under the requisite full moon. And the design continued to impress as the show progressed, including a front curtain that became a character, framing certain more intimate scenes, and a house full of movable staircases right out of the mind of M C Esher.

Nathan Lane is laudable as Gomez. Bebe Newirth is perfectly droll as Morticia, but she has about a six note singing range which meant all her duets with Lane were keyed so low as to make them painful.

Jackie Hoffman impressed as Grandma as she did in Xanadu. Seriously, I think you could ask Ms. Hoffman to play toilet paper and be wowed! Kevin Chamberlin is wonderfully endearing as Uncle Fester. And Adam Riegler is a joy as Wesley.

Now the bad news on the Family front. Krysta Rodriguez is horrible as Wednesday Addams. I think she is probably a fine actor and she does have some chops as a singer, but the role that is written for her is so very bad it's painful to watch. Within the first 10 minutes of the show, Wednesday is turned from the brooding daughter with an evil streak into a lovestruck confused teen. And she doesn't seem to care. Gone are the braids, the melancholy, and the dry wit. And the poor songs the creative team force her to sing sound as they were leftover from the first draft of Wicked. They don't fit into what should be a dark, brooding score. If this is the part they re-worked, they've done the show a disservice.

In fact, much of the score seems better suited to other shows. It's hard to pin down what the musical style of The Addams Family should be, but there is one clear moment when Fester reprises a tune that has the lilt of a Parisian Waltz, and in that moment I found myself saying, Yes! That's what this score should sound like.

The plot line centers on Wednesday's budding love with a "normal" boy, and the requisite meeting of the two families. Carolee Carmelo and Terrence Mann shine like the true Broadway veterans they are. In fact my favorite musical moments where when they actually let Ms. Carmello sing. She has some of the most Broadway-worthy singing moments. There is a son, too, but he's so forgettable as to have been played by any number of actors. Sorry. It's not you, it's the script.

My best forecast for this show? It might run like The Producers or Spamalot solely on the draw of its star appeal and familiar theme, but unless some major changes are made (mostly surrounding the Wednesday storyline and songs [ugh!]) it will never be a timeless Broadway hit. Go ahead. Prove me wrong. Full Disclosure!

Go see it so you can say you've seen it.
I give it 2 curtains up.

Brian