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Jan. 10th, 2011
This show went onto our radar when it was being workshopped almost 3 years ago. It was a mention somewhere and we told each other that if it came to Broadway, we were going to go see it. It was the Addams Family to begin with and I am a HUGH Charles Addams fan since I was a tot and his drawings in the New Yorker always jumped out at me. Then we had the added delight of Nathan Lane as Gomez and Bebe Neuwirth as Morticia which made it even more tantalizing.
Due to a number of factors, we couldn’t really pull off the trip in and the show until this past Sunday and it was well worth the wait. It is not a perfect show by any means. You have a very strong cast doing pretty good material. And there are times that you think “Would X really be worried about that?” in terms of the Addams lore. But when it works, it works in spades. And I was very entertained. In fact my sides hurt from laughing so hard after the show. It was a show that was very to my tastes.
Nathan Lane is the first Gomez that looks like the cartoon version of Gomez. He is short and round and looks very dashing. His accent floats all over the place from Spain to Cuba to somewhere in South America to somewhere is South Jersey but it doesn’t matter. Mr. Lane is a champion of milking the moment for maximum hilarity. His comic chops are impeccable. The songs are fine but we all know he can sing from his previous roles. He, the actor, looks like he is having a ball with the role and his joy is ours as well.
I knew Bebe Neuwirth could play Morticia for the very simple reason that she played Lilith in Fraiser with such gusto. And she is a delight. Again you have another actor who knows how to play with the comedy and the pauses to extend rather than kill the hilarity. Any problem I had with her performance had more to do with what the script was doing not her.
The rest of the cast was very solid too. Kevin Chamberlin as Fester was a delight. I had seen him on stage before but this was much more of a showcase for his talent. They made Fester sort of the narrator for the piece and that worked. Also he was involved in a couple of the more complex puppetry pieces. Krysta Rodrigues is going places. She is great as an older Wednesday Addams with a lot of internal conflict going on. She has, as they say in the biz, an interesting look and a great set of pipes on her. Adam Reigler does well with what they give him as Pugsley. Again I think it is more script that actor here. Another find for me was Jackie Hoffman who plays Grandmama with great gusto. We have a feeling that her performance changes the most from show to show since she almost put away Pugsley and Fester at the dinner table. They gave her a couple of places to put whatever she wanted in and her comic timing is just wonderful to watch.
Then there is the family that enters the house of Addams. The boy Lucas and Wednesday’s love interest is played by Wesley Taylor in his Broadway début. He does a fine job and I think he will continue to find work in theater. Lucas’ Mom is played by Carolee Carmello who has a very long Broadway resume and I really hope to see her in many more shows. She is a powerhouse and almost steals the show at a couple of points from the Addams which is fine since she played Abigail Adams in 1776 revival. The most underused talent on the stage is Lucas’ Father who is played by Terrance Mann. Yes, Terrance Fricking Mann! OK if you are outside of New York you may very well be scratching your head. But here he is a Broadway ghod. The man can sing and dance rings around just about anyone else up there including the leads. He does have a good song with Ms. Carmello coupled with a dance number in the second act but during the first act we were surprised how much he was not being used.
Basil Twist did the puppets and a couple of the tricks within the show. He did a good job on all of it. I did figure out what he was doing with some of the more impressive tricks but then I am a trained professional and know where to look. The puppets add to the show and give the Addams house that Addams feel. This is complimented by the set by Phelim McDermott and Julian Crouch which really does create the feeling of the drawings in 3-D. Also the set is an amazing feat of engineering to make so many different rooms with so little real-estate and that few pieces to work with. The set was another character within the show.
The book and score are serviceable. The songs are hummable especially Full Disclosure. The story has a few problems more due to Addams history and myth that Charles Addams created than the story itself. The Addams family thinks that they are normal so trying to be “normal” doesn’t seem in their make-up. Also the Morticia subplot didn’t fell like ‘Tish.
But those are minor quibbles for a show that entertained me. Peter and I were wondering what will happen to it when some of the leads move onto other things. The show is very dependant on the cast for this one. This is not a plug and play situation because whoever is playing whatever must rise above the material to bring it up to what I saw.
And yes, Thing is in the play but blink or show up late and you miss him. And if you get to your seats late in the second act, you miss It.
I am very grateful that I saw this with the original cast.
Due to a number of factors, we couldn’t really pull off the trip in and the show until this past Sunday and it was well worth the wait. It is not a perfect show by any means. You have a very strong cast doing pretty good material. And there are times that you think “Would X really be worried about that?” in terms of the Addams lore. But when it works, it works in spades. And I was very entertained. In fact my sides hurt from laughing so hard after the show. It was a show that was very to my tastes.
Nathan Lane is the first Gomez that looks like the cartoon version of Gomez. He is short and round and looks very dashing. His accent floats all over the place from Spain to Cuba to somewhere in South America to somewhere is South Jersey but it doesn’t matter. Mr. Lane is a champion of milking the moment for maximum hilarity. His comic chops are impeccable. The songs are fine but we all know he can sing from his previous roles. He, the actor, looks like he is having a ball with the role and his joy is ours as well.
I knew Bebe Neuwirth could play Morticia for the very simple reason that she played Lilith in Fraiser with such gusto. And she is a delight. Again you have another actor who knows how to play with the comedy and the pauses to extend rather than kill the hilarity. Any problem I had with her performance had more to do with what the script was doing not her.
The rest of the cast was very solid too. Kevin Chamberlin as Fester was a delight. I had seen him on stage before but this was much more of a showcase for his talent. They made Fester sort of the narrator for the piece and that worked. Also he was involved in a couple of the more complex puppetry pieces. Krysta Rodrigues is going places. She is great as an older Wednesday Addams with a lot of internal conflict going on. She has, as they say in the biz, an interesting look and a great set of pipes on her. Adam Reigler does well with what they give him as Pugsley. Again I think it is more script that actor here. Another find for me was Jackie Hoffman who plays Grandmama with great gusto. We have a feeling that her performance changes the most from show to show since she almost put away Pugsley and Fester at the dinner table. They gave her a couple of places to put whatever she wanted in and her comic timing is just wonderful to watch.
Then there is the family that enters the house of Addams. The boy Lucas and Wednesday’s love interest is played by Wesley Taylor in his Broadway début. He does a fine job and I think he will continue to find work in theater. Lucas’ Mom is played by Carolee Carmello who has a very long Broadway resume and I really hope to see her in many more shows. She is a powerhouse and almost steals the show at a couple of points from the Addams which is fine since she played Abigail Adams in 1776 revival. The most underused talent on the stage is Lucas’ Father who is played by Terrance Mann. Yes, Terrance Fricking Mann! OK if you are outside of New York you may very well be scratching your head. But here he is a Broadway ghod. The man can sing and dance rings around just about anyone else up there including the leads. He does have a good song with Ms. Carmello coupled with a dance number in the second act but during the first act we were surprised how much he was not being used.
Basil Twist did the puppets and a couple of the tricks within the show. He did a good job on all of it. I did figure out what he was doing with some of the more impressive tricks but then I am a trained professional and know where to look. The puppets add to the show and give the Addams house that Addams feel. This is complimented by the set by Phelim McDermott and Julian Crouch which really does create the feeling of the drawings in 3-D. Also the set is an amazing feat of engineering to make so many different rooms with so little real-estate and that few pieces to work with. The set was another character within the show.
The book and score are serviceable. The songs are hummable especially Full Disclosure. The story has a few problems more due to Addams history and myth that Charles Addams created than the story itself. The Addams family thinks that they are normal so trying to be “normal” doesn’t seem in their make-up. Also the Morticia subplot didn’t fell like ‘Tish.
But those are minor quibbles for a show that entertained me. Peter and I were wondering what will happen to it when some of the leads move onto other things. The show is very dependant on the cast for this one. This is not a plug and play situation because whoever is playing whatever must rise above the material to bring it up to what I saw.
And yes, Thing is in the play but blink or show up late and you miss him. And if you get to your seats late in the second act, you miss It.
I am very grateful that I saw this with the original cast.