In a New York Times feature out yesterday, Patrick Healy examines the challenges of translating a black humor cartoon into a thrilling stage musical - something the producers and the creative team of THE ADDAMS FAMILY are endeavoring to do.
As widely known, the masterminds behind the new stage show, which is completing its try-out run at Chicago's Ford Center for the Performing Arts Oriental Theatre before heading to Broadway in March, elected to base the show on the original cartoons, as opposed to the later television and film incarnations of the concept.
Of the challenge, the Times feature quotes The New Yorker's Mr. Mankoff: "It would be hard to take a musical or entertainment program where the family was gleefully and endlessly plotting harm," he said. "The real aim, I think, is to be true to what was special about Addams - that he was really prophetic about how much the gothic would infiltrate our culture, how we laugh when Freddy Krueger is making jokes while torturing people in ‘Elm Street.' But striking the right balance will take much creativity."
To read the full New York Times feature on THE ADDAMS FAMILY, click here.
As previously reported, Tony-winning director Jerry Zaks was recently hired as a creative consultant to head up the revision effort before the show moves to Broadway. The first three Broadway previews have been cancelled and the production will now begin performances on March 8, 2010 as opposed to the previously announced March 4. The opening night date of April 8, 2010 has not been changed.
White Zaks will be billed as the show's "Creative Consultant," Phelim McDermott and Julian Crouch are still listed as directors and production designers, but it's been made clear that Zaks is the new man in charge. Zaks has bowed out of Broadway's All About Me, starring Dame Edna and Michael Feinstein in order to work on THE ADDAMS FAMILY. Casey Nicholaw stepped in to fill his All About Me shoes.
THE ADDAMS FAMILY will play the Lunt-Fotanne Theatre on Broadway, located at 205 West 46th Street. Regular box office hours are 10 a.m. - 8:00 p.m., Monday through Saturday. Ticket prices range from $51.50 to $136.50. Tickets are available at the Lunt-Fontanne box office and online at Tickmaster.com or by calling 212-307-4100.
Based on the bizarre and beloved family of characters created by legendary cartoonist Charles Addams, THE ADDAMS FAMILY is currently playing its pre-Broadway engagement at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts, Oriental Theatre in Chicago, now through Sunday, January 10, 2010.
THE ADDAMS FAMILY has a book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice (librettists of the 2006 Tony Award-winning Best Musical, Jersey Boys), music and lyrics by Drama Desk Award winner Andrew Lippa (The Wild Party), direction and design by Phelim McDermott and Julian Crouch (Shockheaded Peter, The Metropolitan Opera's Satyagraha) and choreography by Sergio Trujillo (Next to Normal, Jersey Boys).
Starring two-time Tony Award winners Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth as Gomez and Morticia, THE ADDAMS FAMILY features two-time Tony Award nominee Terrence Mann as Mal Beineke, two-time Tony Award nominee Carolee Carmello as Alice Beineke, two-time Tony Award nominee Kevin Chamberlin as Uncle Fester, Jackie Hoffman as Grandma, Zachary James as Lurch, Adam Riegler as Pugsley, Wesley Taylor as Lucas Beineke and Krysta Rodriguez as Wednesday.
THE ADDAMS FAMILY features lighting design by two-time Tony Award winner Natasha Katz (The Coast of Utopia, Aida), sound design by Acme Sound Partners (Tony nomination for In the Heights) and puppetry by acclaimed Obie Award-winning puppeteer Basil Twist (Arias with a Twist).
The production also features music direction by Mary-Mitchell Campbell (the revivals of Sweeney Todd and Company), orchestrations by Larry Hochman (Monty Python's Spamalot), dance arrangements by August Eriksmoen (Memphis), hair design by Tom Watson (Wicked), make-up design by Angelina Avallone (The Little Mermaid), special effects design by Greg Meeh (Monty Python's Spamalot) and fight direction by Rick Sordelet (The Lion King).
THE ADDAMS FAMILY is produced by Stuart Oken, Roy Furman, Michael Leavitt, Five Cent Productions, Stephen Schuler, Decca Theatricals, Scott M. Delman, Stuart Ditsky, Terry Allen Kramer, Stephanie P. McClelland, James L. Nederlander, Eva Price, Jam Theatricals/Mary Lu Roffe, Pittsburgh CLO/Gutterman-Swinsky, Vivek Tiwary/Gary Kaplan, The Weinstein Company/Clarence LLC and Adam Zotovich/Tribe Theatricals, by Special Arrangement with Elephant Eye Theatrical.
In this original story, the famously macabre Addams Family is put to the test when outsiders come to dinner, hurling Gomez, Morticia, Wednesday, Pugsley, Fester, Grandma and Lurch headlong into a night that will change the family forever.
In a prolific career spanning six decades, Charles Addams created several thousand cartoons, sketches and drawings, many of which were published in The New Yorker. But it was his creation of characters that came to be known as The Addams Family that brought Addams his greatest acclaim. With a unique style that combined the twisted, macabre and just plain weird with charm, wit and enchantment, Addams' drawings have entertained millions worldwide and served as the inspiration for multiple television series and motion pictures.
For more information, visit www.theaddamsfamilymusical.com.
